New journey: Japan
by Yagami 85
Summary: Thanks to the positive response to the first story, I decided to continue the series! Sequel to the story: Different beginning. It is set in the time period after the conclusion of the first story but before Tatsuya went overseas.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Ushiyama's encounter, Criminals' end

Disclaimer: I do not own Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei or any of its vibrant characters.

* * *

Year 2092, December 15, Otemachi area, Tokyo, Japan, 10: 53 pm

(Tatsuya's POV)

As I sat down on the wooden chair, I quickly took up a menu and scanned through it. After looking through it, I called over a waitress and ordered a cup of black coffee with milk along with a slice of blueberry cake.

The current coffee shop where I was having some afternoon tea was located within the Otemachi area of Japan's capital, Tokyo. Otemachi area is where many of the Japanese megabanks reside. Most major financial securities houses, Japanese and foreign, including several trading houses were located in this area as well.

However, that was not all there is to this area. As this area was one of the top financial districts in Japan, it goes without saying that many of Japan's money-laundering sites were here as well. In particular, there was one small money-laundering site located near the coffee shop that I was eating at. Despite its small size, it can be considered to be a major money-laundering site within Japan due to the absurdly large amounts of money being 'transferred' there. The scale of money being 'transferred' in this site far exceeds that of other money-laundering sites.

This was the site that I was targeting.

As I closed my eyes, I activated my 'sight' to see the information structures of the 'objects' around me.

What I was seeing had confirmed my expectations.

The site had two doors, one front door and one back door.

There were no cameras around, probably so as to not leave any evidence of money-laundering behind should the site be exposed to the police.

15 staff members working within the site itself.

8 guards within the site itself.

Three of them were guarding the front door,

three of them were guarding the back door,

two of them were positioned deeper within the site itself.

4 guards were positioned around the outside of the site, acting as lookouts while pretending to be typical, normal and law-abiding citizens.

Total number of targets: 27

I opened my eyes again as the waitress approached me, holding my cup of coffee in one hand while holding a plate of blueberry cake with the other. As she put both the cup and plate down on the table, she looked at me and started to speak.

"I'm sorry, sir. However, the shop is going to close soon at 11:30 pm." The waitress said with an apologetic tone.

"No problem. I will finish before then." I replied.

As the waitress thanked me for my cooperation, I merely nodded back at her before I proceeded to eat my cake.

Over the past week, I had been using my 'sight' to observe several money-laundering sites in Tokyo. Tokyo was the heart of Japan's financial industry. Furthermore, Japan's financial industry was one of the most advanced in the world, ranked third in the world, with the northern EU as second and USNA as first. Therefore, many money-laundering sites would be located in this city, especially the major ones involving billions of yen and USNA dollars.

The concepts of time and distance do not apply in the information dimension. Therefore, with my 'sight', I could observe the information structures of the 'objects' at or near these major sites, regardless of how far I am from them, though I could 'see' the objects' information structures more easily if I'm nearer to them. While I had this ability before, it seemed as though this ability of mine had sharply improved ever since I gave my final 'gift' to the Yotsuba clan. Now, I could 'see' the information structures of 'objects' much more clearly than before, and the 'limitation' of distance from the 'object' had been severely curtailed. Hence, I could now observe my targets with greater ease than before.

At 12 a.m., the current guards will go off-duty and rotate with new ones.

At 12:10 a.m., the current guards would no longer be near the target site while the new guards would already have taken up their positions.

I checked the time with my watch.

11 p.m.

There was still one hour and ten minutes before I can make my move.

Looks like I would have to wait for a while.

I then turned my attention back to my cake and coffee.

* * *

Year 2092, December 16, Money-laundering site in Otemachi area, Tokyo, Japan, 12:10 a.m.

As the guards acting as lookouts observed their surroundings, I merely continued walking down the streets. As I expected, the guards' attention was already turning to me. It must have been odd for them to see a thirteen year old boy walking down the streets of a major financial district in Japan at such a late time.

I merely turned towards them before my lips curled up to form a bloodthirsty smirk.

Shocked, one of the guards immediately reached for his mobile phone but it was futile.

I immediately focused my 'sight' on the targets, analyzing the information structures of their bodies, weapons, mobile phones and clothes. I then used my natural decomposition magic to decompose them.

A moment later, their bodies had already faded into nothingness, along with their clothes, mobile phones and weapons, as if they never existed.

I then stepped forward and reached the front door of the site.

This was a relatively quiet place where few people, except for those involved with money-laundering, would go to. Furthermore, it was already quite late.

The decomposition of my targets therefore had not been seen by anyone aside from me.

Besides, the decomposition of my targets produced no light or sound.

Therefore, it was unlikely to attract attention from others.

I decomposed the lock and opened the door with my gloved hand. Once I had entered the site, I quickly closed the door. As I swiftly made my way in, I looked around for the computers handling the money-laundering and headed straight to them. I then plugged in special thumbdrives into them before wirelessly connecting the special thumbdrives to my laptop.

I then activated the hacking program and started my work. In recent years, money-laundering has gotten more sophisticated. In the past, criminals would have transferred money to bank accounts controlled by people working at such sites. The people working at such sites would then proceed to have the money 'cleaned' either by buying expensive objects or financial securities with them, which could then be sold in foreign markets to recover the money. The money would then be transferred to other foreign financial accounts owned by the criminals.

However, there were a few key limitations with this process.

The first limitation was that the monetary value of the expensive objects and financial securities on the market may fall, resulting in losses for the criminals when they finally sold the expensive objects or financial securities to recover the money.

The second limitation was that these expensive objects, when being brought out of the country to be sold in foreign markets, could be confiscated by alert custom officers who were both wary and familiar with the tactics of money launderers.

Hence, money launderers had, in recent years, changed their strategy. Nowadays, they would 'invest' the money in several separate foreign 'saving' accounts. These 'saving' accounts would have a particularly 'convenient' feature of allowing the account users to transfer their money to other affiliated 'saving' accounts. The money would then be passed from the first batch of accounts to several other account batches. This would create a long trail for investigators to investigate. The fact that these foreign 'saving' accounts were also obscure and not well-regulated would only increase the difficulty of investigation.

This would effectively prevent losses due to market fluctuations and lower the chance of a successful investigation and confiscation of the funds by the authorities.

I was currently following the exact same process that the money-launderers had used in recent years. However, rather than transferring money into the accounts of the criminals, I was transferring the money into my own accounts.

Within ten minutes, the job was done and I quickly shut down my computer and collected my special thumbdrives back. I then focused my 'sight' on the 'objects' around me, reading and analyzing the information structures of the computers, books, discs, light bulbs, tables, chairs and even of the footsteps on the ground. I then decomposed these information structures.

As these 'objects' faded into nothingness, I could now be confident that there would be no trace of my entry and actions within the site. I quickly left the site via the back door and made my way to the next destination.

As I was walking down the empty back alley, I looked at the watch on my wrist.

12:30 a.m.

Total amount of time taken: 20 minutes.

I was still on schedule.

One site down. Four more to go.

* * *

Year 2092, December 23, Tokyo, Japan, 11:50 a.m.

(Ushiyama's POV)

As I sat down on the chair, I brought out a napkin to clean up the sweat on my face. After telling the waitress that I was waiting for someone and that I would not order until he arrives, I quickly requested for a glass of cold water to calm my nerves.

After the waitress brought over a glass of cold water, I slowly drank from it, letting the cold water soothe my fraying nerves as I felt myself gradually become calmer. I put the glass down onto the table before using a serviette to wipe my mouth.

On December 21, I received a call from Shiba Tatsuya, the biological son of Shiba Miya, the head of FLT. I used to work at FLT in its third research division. FLT was a maker of spare parts for CADs but in recent years, the company has tried to innovate and move up the value chain, either by producing and selling more valuable CAD components or by inventing its own CADs.

While the company had managed to achieve success with the first option, with the value of the CAD components it sold rising in value over the past few years, the company had little to no success for the second option. To invent a new CAD requires a lot of resources and focus. The company, too focused on producing more valuable CAD components, neglected the invention of new CADs in the process. Hence, it's lack of success regarding the second option. As a result, the company decided to restructure and spin off, or close down the parts that were researching the invention of new CADs, such as the third research division.

In short, this meant that I, along with the other engineers and staff of the third research division, were currently unemployed.

Now, you may question why I would then meet with Shiba Tatsuya, the biological son of the woman, Shiba Miya, who had arguably caused the failure of the second option and thus resulted in my unemployment.

The answer is very simple: Shiba Tatsuya was different from others.

He and his mother always acted very distant and cordial with each other, unlike in other families.

He also has in-depth knowledge over a broad range of subjects, including CAD development and magic, with his knowledge reaching university-level standards.

This was what I had discerned from the few chance encounters that I have had with him.

It was impossible for him not to have known about my current situation.

As the son of the person who had unjustly fired me, he should have tried his best to avoid me.

Yet, he called me up and asked for a meeting.

It meant that he must have had a motive in mind.

But what?

What was he planning?

Suddenly, I felt someone tap my shoulder.

As I turned around, I saw a thirteen year old boy, dressed in a black buttoned up shirt and long black pants, along with a long black jacket, the tips of which extended to his knees.

As Shiba Tatsuya made his way over to the other seat across from me, I could not help but remain wary of him. He sat down, quickly scanned through the menu before calling the same waitress over and making his order. As the waitress quickly turned towards me, I hurriedly looked at the menu before choosing a random dish for me.

Once the waitress left, Tatsuya-kun started to speak.

"Ah…Ushiyama-san, I must apologize for my rude behavior earlier. I had forgotten to introduce myself. I'm Shiba Tatsuya, but you can just call me Tatsuya." Tatsuya-kun spoke as he bowed his head slightly towards me.

"Ah…don't worry. I take no offence in it. You can just call me Ushiyama." I said.

"Very well. Then, I shall call you Ushiyama-san." He replied curtly.

"Then, I shall call you Tatsuya-kun." I replied back with a polite tone.

As Tatsuya-kun put his hands together, fingers tapping against each other, he started to speak again.

"Ushiyama-san, how are you doing nowadays?" He asked

I tensed, feeling a bit of anger at his question.

There was no way he didn't know of my situation.

So, why was he asking me about it now?

"I believe you would know full well about my current situation." I replied with a slightly terse tone.

Tatsuya-kun then revealed a slightly apologetic smile before his face leaned over closer to mine. Following his cue, I leaned over closer to him as well. He then started to whisper:

"Ushiyama-san, former director of the FLT third research division. Despite FLT's rising profits over the years, the third research division was still shut down as the company underwent restructuring in recent times. As a result, you and the other former employees in the same division are currently unemployed. All of you have been unemployed for over three months now. All of you have families to raise and all of you right now face a dire financial situation of rapidly-depleting savings to pay for all of your bills. Ushiyama-san, your bank account currently has only about 400,000 yen, which makes up for about 5000 USNA dollars. Your savings will only be able to last you for a little while longer."

My fists clenched, I immediately sat up, fuming.

"You of all people should not be saying that! No matter what, you are still the biological son of Shiba Miya, the one who caused this situation in the first place. If she had focused more of the company's attention and resources on inventing new CADs, rather than overloading one division, my division, with all the work which we couldn't possibly finish, and had allocated to us the resources we needed, we would have had more success with inventing new CADs! Instead, she blamed us for the failure and fired us during the recent restructuring!" I hissed out.

At my outburst, Tatsuya-kun merely looked on at me with a calm expression.

"Hey, Ushiyama-san. After such a loud outburst, shouldn't you have attracted quite a bit of attention from those around you?" He asked.

I froze.

Then, I looked around.

He was right.

My outburst should have attracted attention to us.

However, this had not happened.

After all, right now, the restaurant was completely empty, except for the two of us.

This shouldn't be happening. Sure, there were only a few customers eating here earlier. However, even assuming that they had all left, there should still have been the staff members. Yet, even the staff members weren't here.

Tatsuya-kun then looked at his watch.

"The time now is 12:25 pm. I had arrived at 11:55 am. At 12:10 am, my reservation over the entire restaurant took effect. By then, the few remaining customers had already left while the staff members had already retreated into the kitchen. We have been talking with each other for thirty minutes, Ushiyama-san."

!

What?!

Thirty minutes?!

We had already been talking for thirty minutes?!

I couldn't believe it.

I was so focused on this conversation (?) and meeting that thirty minutes had already passed without me noticing it!

"I would like you to check your bank account again. Right now, you should have an additional four million yen, equivalent to about 50,000 USNA dollars, in your bank account."

Shocked, I quickly reached over to my mobile phone and used the mobile banking application to check my bank account.

He was correct. There was an additional four million yen added to my account.

But how?

Even if Tatsuya-kun was from a rich family, he should not have been able to afford this kind of money. After all, he was only thirteen years old. Unless, he had a backer behind him!

"I can tell what you are thinking, Ushiyama-san. You are thinking that I, as a thirteen year old, should not be able to have this kind of money and thus, you concluded that I must have a wealthy backer behind me. Am I right?" He asked, his words coming out more as a statement than an actual question.

How did he guess what I was thinking?

Oh right…

This was a guy who could, at thirteen years old, understand university-level subjects.

Breathing in deeply to calm my nerves, I asked:

"Why are you doing this? What are you planning? Who is it that is backing you?"

"Ah…let me clarify some of your misconceptions. Firstly, I don't have anyone backing me right now. The money is my own, it does not belong to FLT or the Shiba family or any other mysterious wealthy backer. Secondly, I have already broken off with the Shiba family. That means that I'm currently operating on my own, without my mother's knowledge or approval. Now as for what I'm planning, I cannot tell you yet. I would have to first ask you a question." He said.

"What is it?' I asked tersely.

"Do you want a way out of your current situation? You might not know this but I, too, have been hurt by Shiba Miya. That's part of the reason why I have broken off with the Shiba family." He explained.

So, he too had been hurt by Shiba Miya as well?

Well, that would explain why they were so cold to each other, despite the fact that they were mother and son.

"Okay, I'll bite. I want to get out of my current situation. What do you have in mind?" I asked, intrigued by the offer.

"The USNA currently has a need for magic engineers, software and hardware programmers. I understand that you have contacts with the rest of the former third division employees, as well as contacts with other unemployed but skillful software and hardware programmers. Do you think that they would be interested in relocating to the USNA for work? Of course, this offer applies to you as well." He said.

Relocating to the USNA for work?

If I relocated there for work, I would not be able to see my family as often as I do now. I still had a wife and children. To leave them here alone would be too cruel. Yet, what choice did I have? Japan's current employment prospects for magic engineers were low. It would be unlikely for me to find a job here. The same goes for the other former third division employees as well as for my software and hardware programmer acquaintances. After all, Japan's current employment prospects for software and hardware programmers were low as well.

But even so,

I could not make decisions for the others.

I could only do so for myself.

"I will need some time to think about it. I will also have to ask my contacts if they wish to accept the offer." I replied.

An understanding look appeared on Tatsuya-kun's face as he looked at me.

"I understand. Please give me your answer by December 28." He said with an understanding tone.

Shortly afterwards, the waitress brought our meals over to our table and we spent the rest of the meeting in silence.

* * *

Year 2092, December 23, Tokyo, Japan, 3 p.m.

(Tatsuya's POV)

As I walked down the streets, I focused my 'sight' to read the information structures of the 'objects' at both the interior of and surroundings outside a particular warehouse.

10 men in the interior.

All of them armed with at least a hand gun.

10 fully armed guards, six of which were guarding the interior of the warehouse while four of them were hanging around the surroundings, acting as lookouts.

No cameras, probably to avoid incriminating video evidence falling into the wrong hands should this location be discovered by the police.

Total number of targets: 20

Tokyo was the heart of Japan's advanced financial industry. As such, many wealthy people would be living in this city as well and these wealthy individuals would have certain 'pleasures' they would wish to have satisfied, such as drugs.

This warehouse looked like any other ordinary, worn-out warehouse that you can find in an industrial area. However, in reality, it acted as a major drug-trafficking, distribution and production hub.

There were several machines producing a variety of drugs like ecstasy in this warehouse. There were also several boxes of drugs stacked up near the walls at specific locations. At two separate areas, there would be a machine which, operated by a single person, would quickly wrap the drugs up in plastic and the drug-traffickers would put the drugs in boxes, covered up by other packets of sweets. There was even a lab at one corner, used for the making of new types of drugs.

As I walked past one of the lookouts, I raised my right hand up and activated my natural decomposition magic.

Immediately after, all four lookouts disappeared while several wounds appeared on the bodies of the remaining sixteen targets.

The wounds appeared all over the remaining sixteen targets' bodies, at the head, the neck, the arms and the legs. As the bodies collapsed onto the ground, blood started to seep out of the wounds and onto the ground.

This way, it would look as if someone had murdered them.

This should be enough to distract the police for a while.

Satisfied with my work, I quickly left the area.

* * *

Year 2092, December 23, Marunouchi Police Branch, Tokyo, Japan, 5 p.m.

(Chiba Toshikazu's POV)

As I laid back on the armchair, I brought my cup of coffee to my mouth and took a sip from it. Bitter but what else could I expect from black coffee without any milk added.

Well, the bitter taste would help keep me awake so I guess enduring this discomfort is merely a sacrifice that I have to make.

Sighing, I brought my attention back to the report on my table.

It appears that my sigh had caught Inagaki's attention as he turned his head towards me.

"What's wrong, inspector?" He asked.

I turned my head towards him as I started to explain (complain).

"16 major drug-trafficking, production and distribution sites had been hit in the past seven days. One hour ago, we received a report that the latest site, the seventeenth one was hit just recently. However, by then, the culprit had already left. There were no cameras in those areas, which was probably set up that way by the drug-traffickers so as to avoid incriminating video evidence of their illegal activities. The problem is that since there were no video cameras in those locations, we could not determine who the culprit is. There were no fingerprints, no trace of the weapon used. All we know is that he or she used a sharp weapon and that the culprit probably is a professional."

"Why would you call the culprit a professional?" Inagaki questioned.

"The wounds, Ingagaki! The wounds! Those wounds were precise cuts, so precise that it was almost scary. They all targeted vital areas like the head and neck and the fact that the culprit could take out sixteen people without the use of a gun is testament to his or her ability as a killer." I said in frustration.

"Do we know the culprit's motive? Why would he or she attack the drug-trafficking sites? Perhaps the culprit is a vigilante?" Inagaki enquired curiously.

"I don't know but even if the dead victims are criminals, the culprit still should not have killed them. If the culprit really is a vigilante wanting to bring justice to the criminals, he should have come to us and provided evidence!" I said.

"Well, I can't really deny your words. However, don't forget about our other case, Inspector. The kidnapping case, remember?" Inagaki reminded.

"Don't worry, I haven't forgotten about that case yet." I reassured him.

"I do hope so, Inspector." Inagaki replied back with a questioning tone.

Ugh…

He's totally suspecting me of forgetting about the case.

"So, who were the victims in the kidnapping case again?" I asked.

Inagaki's eyes became cold as he stared at me.

Whoops.

Wrong question.

"Inspector Chiba Toshikazu, didn't you just mention that you had not forgotten about the kidnapping case? So then, why are you asking me for the victims' names?" Inagaki asked with a cold tone.

"Ugh…um…Inagaki! Now's not the time to be talking about such things! Quickly tell me the names of the victims, now!" I ordered nervously.

Inagaki's eyes just became colder.

His fingers twitched and I could not help but notice that his hands were getting nearer to his gun and CAD.

"Um…I mean…please tell me the victims' names, Inagaki." I asked him with a much softer tone.

Inagaki just looked at me for a moment before letting out a slow, heavy sigh.

He then passed me a report and spoke to me.

"The victims in this kidnapping case are Kitayama Shizuku and Mitsui Honoka."

* * *

Well, then! This is chapter 1 of the new story, New journey: Japan! Please review!


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: First meeting

Disclaimer: I do not own Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei or any of its vibrant characters.

* * *

Year 2092, December 24, Christmas Eve, Tokyo, Japan, 5 a.m.

(Tatsuya's POV)

As I rested my back against the damp wall in the dark alley, I closed my eyes and used my 'sight' to analyze the information structures of the 'objects' both within the interior of the money-laundering site and along the surroundings of the site.

It looked like a small shop that you could find along any street.

However, the interior was far larger as the 'small' shop had its interior connected with those of the other small shops found along the same street.

There were 20 staff members.

One front door and one back door.

20 guards guarding the interior, with five guards guarding each door.

10 guards located within the surroundings of the site, acting as lookouts.

No cameras (again)

Total number of targets: 50

This was the most heavily guarded site that I had encountered so far and that was saying a lot about the heavy security of this site considering that I had already taken down thirty-three major money-laundering sites in Tokyo.

However, what made this site stand out wasn't just the heavy security of the site but the fact that there was also a tied up person within it, located at one of the back rooms of the shop. The person appeared to be a twelve year old girl and both her hands and feet were bound. Her mouth was also taped over as well.

This was going to be troublesome.

Certainly, I could easily kill the criminals. However, I could not leave any witnesses or else both the Japanese government and the Yotsuba would track me down. Yet, I did not want to kill such a young girl for this kind of reason. There was no reason to.

Don't get me wrong. I would kill her without hesitation if it was necessary. However, it was not necessary at this point in time. Killing her would be a waste. Another option would be for me to just leave the site and thus not incur the risk of having any witnesses. But to do so would mean to leave a defenseless, young girl in the hands of those criminals.

I shouldn't care.

But the problem is that I did.

Why did I care?

I wondered.

To kill the criminals without attracting any unnecessary attention would require me to use my natural decomposition magic. However, doing so would reveal my secret to this girl who I didn't even know. If I showed her my secret, I would only have two choices. Either I kill her or I take her away with me.

I closed my eyes as I pondered over my options.

Option 1: Leave the site, leaving a defenseless girl to those criminals in the process

Option 2: Kill everyone, including the girl, and then take the money

Option 3: Kill all the criminals, take the money and then bring the girl away with me

All three options did not end up well for the girl.

Choosing options 2 or 3 would help me fulfil my objective.

Since that was the case, the most optimal action to take would be to maximize my own gain.

That narrowed my options down to two.

Options 2 and 3.

I wouldn't suffer any particularly large losses regardless of which option I chose.

Then, the next best option to take would be to minimize the girl's losses.

I slowly opened my eyes.

My options had narrowed down to one.

I choose option 3.

* * *

Year 2092, December 24, Christmas Eve, Tokyo, Japan, 5:05 a.m.

(Shizuka's POV)

As I lay on the ground, with both my hands and feet tightly bound by ropes, I furiously tried to force my bound hands apart in a futile attempt to break free. Needless to say, it was futile. I closed my eyes tightly as I tried to prevent my tears from falling down.

I would not let these criminals see me like this.

It was already bad enough that I was captured and tied up.

I would not give them the pleasure of letting them see my fear.

As the criminals continued talking, I tried to focus on their conversation. Anything to distract me from my current situation would be a welcome.

I could not hear their entire conversation but I could still pick up snippets of it.

"Hey…are you really sure that this will work?"

"Don't worry. It will work. It must."

"Yes. Kitayama Ushio's cooperation is necessary for our business to expand. His large financial network will be most beneficial for our operations."

"And his daughter…"

"His daughter will be the trump card we need to force his cooperation."

I involuntarily shivered as I heard their words.

Ultimately, I was just a tool.

A tool to force my father's cooperation.

Honoka was judged to be of no use to them thus she was taken away to be sold.

I couldn't do anything.

I was powerless.

So powerless.

I couldn't even protect my best friend.

If that is the case, then I would rather…

Suddenly, the sounds of the money-launderers stopped.

As I turned my head to look at them, I was stunned.

Their bodies had started to fade away and disappear.

A moment later,

they had all disappeared,

as if they had never existed in the first place.

* * *

Year 2092, December 24, Christmas Eve, Tokyo, Japan, 5:12 a.m.

(Tatsuya's POV)

I had heard enough.

So, it appears that the money-launderers had wanted to use the Kitayama financial network, which had its reach extend all the way from Japan to other countries around the world such as the USNA, the EU, the Indo-Persian Federation and the New Soviet Union.

Certainly, having such a large and international financial network at their disposal would greatly increase the ease of transferring the illegal funds among different foreign 'saving' accounts, which would 'coincidentally' happen to be obscure and not well-regulated. Not to mention the greater ease that the criminals would have in finding or creating such accounts.

However, I had heard that Kitayama Ushio was a man of integrity and had an upright character. Therefore, it was unlikely that he would willingly cooperate with such criminals. Then, the tool to control him would be…

Kitayama Shizuku.

Regardless, this new piece of information did not change my decision.

It was considered, quite seriously I might add, but it ultimately did not change my decision.

I proceeded to walk towards the site, using my 'sight' to read and analyze the information structures of the bodies of the fifty targets before I used my natural decomposition magic to decompose these information structures.

As their bodies faded into nothingness, I focused my 'sight' on the lock, reading and analyzing its information structure before I decomposed the lock. Pushing open the door with a glove hand, I quickly entered the site before swiftly closing the door behind me. I took out my laptop and special thumbdrives from my bag and got to work.

I quickly plugged the special thumbdrives into the computers and laptops, turned on my personal laptop before connecting the thumbdrives to my laptop wirelessly. I then activated the hacking program and proceeded to carry out what I would like to call 'reverse money-laundering'.

As the money was being transferred through different, obscure foreign 'saving' accounts to reach their eventual destinations, namely, my own personal accounts, I made my way to one of the back rooms of the shop.

In the back room, I found the girl, Kitayama Shizuku, all tied up. I bent down and looked into her eyes. There was fear in her eyes.

Any other time, that fear might have been justified. After all, under normal circumstances, whereby she had seen my natural decomposition magic and even my face, I would have killed her to prevent the existence of any witnesses. However, under the current circumstances, that fear was unnecessary. After all, I was not going to kill her. Instead, I was going to take her away with me.

I looked at my watch. It was now 5:30 am.

I still had about eight minutes before the hacking program had finished its job. I slowly took off the tape covering the girl's mouth. Once the tape had been removed, the girl let out a breath before taking a few deep breaths.

It must have been stifling for her to have had her mouth taped.

I then proceeded to speak to her.

"Kitayama Shizuku-san, do you want to leave with me? I will not force you to choose but I'm sure that going with me is a lot better than staying here, all tied up, and waiting for the criminals' acquaintances to arrive here.

The girl, Kitayama Shizuku, remained quiet for a moment as she pondered over her options. Surprisingly, she did not even ask how I knew her name but I suppose it was because she had already gotten used to the situation of meeting unknown people who knew her name via unknown means after she got kidnapped by those criminals.

She then replied:

"Yes, I'll go with you."

"Very well." I replied back.

I quickly decomposed the ropes that bound her hands and feet.

At this, a surprised expression came over her face and she asked:

"Just who are you?"

"You do not need to know that. Come on, now. Get up. We have to leave soon." I replied as I offered a hand to her.

She quickly accepted my offer to help, grasping tightly to my hand as she slowly got up, her legs unused to the action after being bound by ropes and lying on the floor for the past few days. As I helped her to a nearby chair, she quickly sat down with an expression of relief coming over her face.

I looked at my watch again. It was now 5:36 am.

"I would like you to wait for about nine more minutes." I told her.

After she nodded in agreement and acknowledgement, I quickly made my way over to my laptop.

At 5:38 am, the hacking program had completed its job.

I swiftly turned my laptop off. While I was doing so, I quickly collected my special thumbdrives before placing both the thumbdrives and my laptop into my bag. I then picked my bag up and slung it over my shoulder.

I quickly used my 'sight' to read and analyze the information structures of all the 'objects' in the room, with the exception of the girl. These 'objects' included furniture, laptops, computers, files, thumbdrives and even fingerprints. I then decomposed their information structures.

Soon after, the 'objects' faded into nothingness, as if they never existed in the first place. This would effectively eliminate all traces of this place being a former major money-laundering site as well as eliminate all traces of the criminals, the girl and I ever having been in this location.

It was now 5:45 am.

I quickly made my way back to the girl.

To her credit, she did not seem shocked or surprised by the sudden disappearance of the 'objects' that were around her.

What a remarkable ability to adapt to the situation around her.

Seeing that she still could not walk properly, she would only slow me down as I made my escape.

There was no other choice.

Bending down, I motioned to her to get on my back.

"What-" She started to say but I quickly cut her off.

"Hurry! We have no time to lose!" I urged.

Having caught my hint, she quickly ceased all resistance and got onto my back.

She wasn't very heavy and I could easily carry her and still run if necessary.

As we made our way to the back door, her hold tightened slightly. I reached out my hand, held onto the handle of the back door and turned it to one side. As the back door opened and we left through it, the moonlight illuminated our figures in the empty back alley as the girl's breath hitched and her hold tightened (again).

I quickly closed the back door with my gloved hand and proceeded to swiftly make my way down the alleyway.

* * *

Year 2092, December 24, Christmas Eve, Tokyo, Japan, 7 a.m.

(Shizuka's POV)

As I sat down on the hotel bed, I looked around the hotel room. It was a rather nice hotel room, spacious, with a king-sized bed, a bathroom with a bathtub, a separate shower area and a toilet. There was also a plush sofa at one corner, with a small table in front of it, and a chair with armrests located across the small table.

The hotel room design was almost certainly western in origin.

The unknown boy dressed in a black buttoned-up shirt, long black pants and a long black jacket, looked at me before he started speaking.

"Before we start, I would like you to know that I have already figured out the reason behind your kidnapping. If I'm correct, you were kidnapped so that those criminals could use you as a tool to force your father's cooperation with their money-laundering activities. To be more specific, they wanted to use your father's large financial network. Am I correct?" He asked.

I nodded.

So, he had already figured everything out. He certainly wasn't a normal person. No normal person would have been able to find out not just the criminals' money-laundering site, but their plans as well. Furthermore, he had completely eliminated all of the criminals in a blink of an eye. He had even destroyed all traces of both the criminals' and our presence at the money-laundering site.

Without a doubt, he was certainly not a normal person. He was probably a magician.

"I can already tell what it is that you are thinking."

At his words, I stiffened.

"You are probably thinking something along the lines of: This guy is not normal. He is most likely a magician."

I involuntarily flinched at the accuracy of his statements.

"Right now, you do not need to know who I am. As I have told you, I already know the criminals' motives. However, I want you to tell me who they are, which criminal group they belonged to and any other relevant details that you have about them."

I trembled slightly as I remembered about Honoka.

My best friend who was kidnapped along with me.

My best friend who was taken away from me to be sold.

"I do not know who they were or which group they belonged to. However, my best friend…Mitsui Honoka…she was kidnapped along with me. She wasn't on the target list but as the two of us left our school together, the kidnappers had forcibly taken her away as well as she was trying to stop them from taking me away. They said that they had no…use for her so they took her away yesterday with the intention of selling her. I don't know where she is right now but please…please save her! I'm scared that they would sell her to some weird man who would take advantage of her! So please, please save her!"

He closed his eyes briefly as he considered my request. After he was finished with his deliberation, he opened his eyes.

However,

when he opened his eyes,

his beautiful, grey eyes,

they were glowing brightly.

His eyes,  
so filled with resolve,

so filled with power,

stared into my own.

It seemed like there was only one answer to give.

"I will save her."

* * *

Well then, chapter 2 is finally complete! Please review!


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Reunion between a 'father' and his two 'daughters'

Disclaimer: I do not own Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei or any of its vibrant characters.

* * *

Year 2092, December 24, Christmas Eve, Tokyo, Japan, 10 a.m.

(Tatsuya's POV)

The gangs in Tokyo were linked to many different types of businesses, both legal and illegal. Their illegal businesses, which also tended to be one of the most lucrative ones, include drug-trafficking, arms smuggling, money-laundering, kidnapping, extortion, prostitution and human-trafficking.

Money-laundering was a very lucrative and important business for the gangs, not just because of the huge commission fees that they could collect, but also because, too often, it was the gang leaders or corporate leaders connected to the gang whose money was being 'cleaned'.

That means that with the elimination of thirty-four major money-laundering sites in Tokyo, which was practically almost all the major money-laundering sites in Tokyo, the gangs in Tokyo had suffered huge financial losses as a result.

Drug-trafficking, production and distribution were also yet another lucrative but illegal business for the gangs, especially since there was high demand for them among the many wealthy individuals in Tokyo.

Right now, seventeen major drug-trafficking, production and distribution sites had also been attacked and all the criminals in them had been killed. The sites were then discovered by the police who proceeded to confiscate all the machinery used for the sites' operations as well as all the drugs that had already been produced and were about to be distributed.

This only added to the huge financial losses that the gangs had already suffered from the attacks on their major money-laundering sites. The gangs' manpower was also greatly reduced, considering that I had killed all those money-launderers and drug-traffickers.

I had also spread false rumors on the internet blaming other gangs for the attack. This resulted in the gangs' current involvement in a secret war among each other, further depleting their funds and manpower.

In that case, the gangs' main focus right now would be to gather up more funds and manpower.

However, money-laundering and drug-trafficking were no longer safe forms of business for them to use to raise funds (which, admittedly, was my fault). Kidnapping and extorting more people for money would only attract the police's attention, which would not be welcome, given the current state of affairs. With the strict border controls established ever since the start of World War Three, which placed special focus on people coming into or leaving the country, human-trafficking became more difficult and dangerous, and thus less profitable. Their legal businesses, while profitable, would only be of limited use since they also had to distribute the companies' profits to their shareholders, greatly diminishing the actual amount of money that could be handed over the gangs.

That left only one other form of illegal but lucrative business to raise funds from.

Prostitution.

Most likely, the girl, Mitsui Honoka, would be sold into prostitution.

She may only be twelve but there were always people with that type of 'interest' in the world.

Raising funds was an urgent priority for the gangs right now.

This means that she was going to be sold very soon, if she had not been sold already.

I would have to hurry.

* * *

Year 2092, December 24, Christmas Eve, An unspecified high-end hotel in Tokyo, Japan, 8:30 p.m.

As I walked towards the hotel bar, a large man stepped in front of me.

He was dressed in a white buttoned-up shirt and long black pants, with a black jacket wrapped around his large shoulders. He also wore a red tie around his neck.

He put a hand in front of me to halt my entry into the bar.

"Stop. You're too young to enter this bar." He said.

I merely looked at him impassively before I slipped my hand into my right pocket and took out my membership card.

Showing it to him with a deadpanned expression, I asked:

"Even if I have a membership card?"

The man looked stunned for a moment as he tried to think up of something to say.

Evidently, he had not expected that I would have such a card with me.

After all, this hotel was not an ordinary hotel. It was not the fact that this hotel was a high-end hotel, meant for wealthy clients, which made it special. In fact, there were plenty of such hotels in Tokyo. However, what made this hotel special was that it also served a lot of wealthy clients who were in some way connected to gangs or other forms of illegal activity. The membership card was meant for the hotel staff to differentiate such clients from the rest of the ordinary, wealthy clients whom were unconnected to the gangs or other forms of illegal activity.

This hotel bar also only lets clients in on a members-only basis as well. This was because this bar provided certain forms of 'entertainment' for its clients such as drugs and …women. The women in the bar were also expected to perform certain types of 'services' for its clients as well. As such, they could not let unconnected people enter into the bar, especially since the age of the women themselves was very questionable.

Of course, that meant that the membership cards would not have been cheap. In fact, I had to spend about eight million yen just to get one, which was equivalent to about 100,000 USNA dollars. After all, if a person was unable to afford that kind of money, he or she was most likely 'unconnected' and thus should be kept out of the bar. In that case, the cost of the membership card acted as a filter to keep out unwanted people from finding out about the bar's illegal activities. However, after raiding thirty-four major money-laundering sites and taking away all the money, I had several billion USNA dollars, and much more money denominated in yen, in my personal bank accounts. As such, eight million yen was now, arrogant as it may sound, just spare change for me.

As the large man tried to stutter something out, a tall, lean man came out of the bar and turned towards him.

"Mura! What are you doing?! How could you just hold up a client like that?!" The tall man scolded.

The large man, Mura, tried to defend himself as he replied.

"But boss! He is a kid! We can't let kids go into a bar of all things!" He defended.

What surprising morality for a person involved in criminal activities.

"After all, if we're caught, the police will come after us and this will attract unnecessary attention."

…never mind.

Shaking my head slightly in disappointment (?) that it was the large man's self-preservation instincts rather than his morality that acted to halt my entry into the bar, I let a sigh.

I then looked up to see the tall man continue to lecture his large counterpart.

"It doesn't matter! The police won't care about stuff like that when there is a secret war raging between the gangs now! Anyway, hurry up and let the guest in! I don't care how young he is but he's got a membership card so that means that he is a priority member!"

As the large man hurriedly moved out of the way, the tall man escorted me inside the bar and into a private room.

The private room which I was escorted into had a plush sofa, which I was seated on, along with a medium-sized wooden table in the middle. There were also two plush chairs located around the table, along both sides of the plush sofa, with a television screen placed directly in front of the table. I picked up the menu that was lying on the table and looked through it.

Even the prices of the items displayed on the menu were expensive. Looking through the alcohol and liquor section, I considered the different items on sale before I finally chose to have a Chancellor cocktail. I then looked through the food section and chose to have a rosemary chicken with black pepper sauce, complemented with some potato wedges and vegetables on the side. Given that it was a winter cocktail, and the fact that it was still winter in Japan, this drink was perfect.

I then tapped on the intercom and an image formed on the television screen. A tall and lean middle-aged man dressed in a tuxedo looked on at me from the screen.

"Sir, what can I get for you?" He asked politely.

"I will have a Chancellor cocktail along with a rosemary chicken meal." I replied curtly.

"Very well, sir. Is that all?" He enquired.

"I would like to ask: What forms of entertainment does this establishment offer?" I stated.

He narrowed his eyes at me before replying.

"Well, sir. We offer many forms of entertainment. As a member, you should know that better than anyone." He said, slight suspicion coloring his tone.

"I'm a new member. However, I have heard about the types of 'entertainment' this establishment offer." I replied with a cold tone.

"I see. Then, sir, what forms of 'entertainment' do you want?" He asked curtly.

"Perhaps I should be more specific. Do you have any new girls?" I asked.

A surprised expression came over his face as his mouth opened slightly. He quickly regained his composure and replied back.

"Ah yes…we have a new girl who just came in yesterday. She is quite attractive, for someone so young."

I immediately narrowed my eyes as I responded with a curious "Oh?".

Usually, when a person is called attractive, and the factor of age was brought in, the one giving the praise would usually be saying that the person looked younger and more beautiful than what her actual age would suggest.

However, when the one giving the praise called a person attractive, despite her young age, that means that the one being praised was likely to be a beautiful child.

A child.

A beautiful, female child that arrived just the day before.

Sold to a hotel bar that apparently has links to money-laundering groups.

Then, who is this girl?

I can only come to one conclusion.

Mitsui Honoka

"How interesting. I would like to have her accompany me for tonight." I said.

The waiter's facial expression remained impassive even as he bowed to me in the screen.

"Very well, sir." He said before the feed was cut off from the screen.

* * *

I laid back on the sofa as I closed my eyes to think.

Was this new girl Mitsui Honoka?

This hotel was one of the six hotels in Tokyo that catered specifically to 'connected' clients. Furthermore, the major money-laundering site that Kitayama Shizuku and Mitsui Honoka were taken to was located near to this hotel. Finally, this hotel, unlike the other hotels, had especially close links to money-laundering groups in Tokyo and the rest of Japan.

Therefore, it was highly likely that Mitsui Honoka was sold to this bar, especially since it was more lucrative to sell 'women' to such hotels compared to selling them to other prostitution 'sites'.

I was brought out of my thoughts when I heard some knocking coming from behind the door the waiter from earlier brought in my rosemary chicken meal and my cocktail. After he put my meal and drink on the table, he went about his task of setting down the proper utensils on the table. When he was finished with his task, he extended his left hand towards the open door. His second finger extended towards the door, he brought his second finger back to his palm as he motioned someone over.

From the door, a twelve-year old girl stepped forward and entered the room. She was wearing a skimpy, sleeveless black dress and a set of heels. As she slowly entered the room, her shoulders were trembling slightly. She had a nervous expression on her face and she bit her lower lip as she shivered slightly in fear.

She also had long brown hair which was let down rather than tied up and her face would easily surpass the boundaries of what was considered cute.

She was Mitsui Honoka.

* * *

(Honoka's POV)

As I slowly walked into the room, I saw the tall waitress from before standing by the side of a young boy. The young boy seemed to be around thirteen years of age and couldn't have been much older than me. His clothes were certainly not like that of a child.

He wore a black buttoned-up shirt, a set of black pants, along with a long black jacket that reached his knees. He also wore a pair of black shoes however they did not seem to be casual shoes that people usually wore when they came to this kind of establishment.

How unusual.

However, I could not let my guard down.

There was no way that this bar would allow an ordinary boy who was only thirteen years old (?) to come here. After all, this seemed to be a place where only criminals came. Besides, I could not forget the fact that this was the boy who 'ordered' for me.

I must be careful.

As the boy motioned for me to sit down next to him, the waiter quickly left the room and closed the door behind him. Right now, I had no choice but to follow his orders. After all, if he complained about me, I dare not think what those criminals would do to me.

As I sat down next to him, the boy scrutinized me closely for a moment before turning away to focus on his meal. He picked up his fork and knife before he started cutting into his chicken.

"You're Mitsui Honoka, right?" He suddenly said.

At this question, I flinched visibly.

How did he know my name?

"I repeat. Are you Mitsui Honoka?" He asked again.

In response to his repeated question, I slowly nodded as I replied.

"Yes, I'm Mitsui Honoka. But how did you know my name?"

He merely turned away from his food before he looked at me with an impassive expression.

"Keep quiet and do not attract any attention, Mitsui Honoka." He suddenly ordered.

I stiffened.

"I'm now going to ask you a few questions. Nod when you mean 'yes' and shake your head when you mean 'no'. Do you understand, Mitsui Honoka?" He asked.

I quickly nodded my head.

"Now, I'm going to give you a brief review of the current situation. Kitayama Shizuku, your friend, was kidnapped by money-launderers so that they could use her as a tool to force her father's cooperation. When you tried to stop them, you were taken along as well. One day ago, you were sold to this hotel while your friend, Kitayama Shizuku, remained in the hands of those criminals. As of right now, you do not know of your friend's current state. Am I correct?"

I nodded furiously in response.

"Now listen carefully, Mitsui Honoka, and remember, do not make any sudden sounds that will attract other people's attention. Got it?"

I nodded again.

"Your friend, Kitayama Shizuku, is currently safe. I had already rescued her earlier today. She then told me of your current predicament and asked me to save you."

My eyes widened in surprise as my hands flew my mouth.

"Now, answer me. Have they done anything to you that they shouldn't have? Such as, have they touched you inappropriately or anything like that?"

I shook my head.

"I see. I will ask again. Have they touched you in any places that they shouldn't have, such as your chest?"

Again, I shook my head in denial.

"Very well. Have they mistreated you in any way? Such as refusing to give you food and water?"

I shook my head again before pointing towards my mouth.

Having caught the hint, the boy merely nodded as he allowed me to speak as long as I kept my voice down.

"They did not treat me badly or anything like that. They gave me enough food for lunch and dinner and they also let me use the toilet if I have to. They also let me sleep on a bed. I think that they did not want to mistreat me and thus cause their 'product' to be damaged." I said, cringing slightly when I used the term 'product' to describe the way those criminals saw me as.

"I see. Do you have any parents?" He asked.

"No, my parents died when I was younger." I replied sadly.

"I understand. I'm sorry about your loss." He said.

"No. Don't feel bad. It wasn't your fault. They died in a car accident, after all." I hastily said.

"I see. Then, let me ask you one more question." He said.

"What is it?" I asked.

He merely smiled at me before he continued.

"Do you want to get out of here?"

* * *

After I told the boy that I wanted to leave this place, he merely nodded at me approvingly before he directed my gaze to the food.

I tried to refuse him, saying that it would be rude for me to eat his meal but he merely said that he had already eaten before he came to the hotel and that I must have been hungry.

Considering that I was rather hungry since I had not eaten dinner yet ('products' ate late since they had to serve customers in the evening), I reluctantly agreed to his offer and shared the meal with him.

After we had finished our meal and had already washed our hands at a nearby basin, the boy told me to play along with him as we dealt with the hotel staff.

I looked at his watch and noted that it was already 10:00 pm.

He put his finger to his mouth to tell me to keep silent as his eyes became focused.

He then suddenly turned to me as he said:

"The waiter from earlier is coming. He most likely suspects something since it is weird for such a young boy to come to this kind of place."

I nodded my head in understanding.

"He's probably going to check up on us. I'll need you to play along with me." He continued.

As I nodded my head again to show my agreement, he suddenly wrapped one arm around my waist as he pushed me down onto the sofa. His left hand placed at the side of my head, he slowly bent down towards me.

I flushed red as his lips started to leave a trail of kisses from my cheek and down to my neck. I unknowingly lifted my head up in response, giving him better access to my neck. As he continued to lay kisses onto my neck, he suddenly sucked on one spot, causing me to moan out in pleasure.

He wound his arm more tightly around my waist, his other hand cradling my head as he kissed me on the lips.

The kiss was intense.

The kiss was raw.

Yet,

the kiss was gentle.

As his tongue gently slid into my mouth, our tongues tangled with each other as he explored the inside of my mouth. His left hand that was cradling my head slid down my back, causing one of my dress straps to slip from my shoulders, slightly exposing my chest.

Suddenly, the sound of knocking came from behind the door followed by a "I'm coming in, sir.".

When the door opened, the waiter started to enter the room only to stop in shock as he processed the sight that was before him.

There I was, lying down on the sofa, the young boy's body scandalously pressed against mine with his mouth hovering dangerously close to mine. One of my dress straps had also slipped from my shoulder so part of my chest was now exposed, without a layer of cloth separating that exposed part of my chest from his clothed chest.

"Kyaa!" I shouted.

The man flinched as he quickly looked away in embarrassment.

However, before he could vacate the room, the boy called out to him:

"Before you leave, I would like to request that you come back later in about five minutes when we are more properly…dressed."

Surprised by the request but still highly embarrassed about having seen us in that kind of position, the waiter nodded hurriedly before he swiftly closed the door.

* * *

Right now, I was in a scandalous position.

After all, I was currently sitting on the boy's lap while wearing such a skimpy dress.

The waiter nervously stood before us as he seemed to be trying to put what he had seen earlier behind him.

The boy spoke to the waiter sharply.

"Regarding what you had seen earlier, I would like to request that you forget everything that you saw and to never tell anyone about it."

The waiter nodded hurriedly as he replied with an "Of course, sir.".

"Now then, I would like to ask you a question. Before me, was there anyone else who had touched her?"

The waiter shook his head in denial as he replied:

"No, sir. You are the first customer she served and none of the staff did anything to her as well."

The boy nodded approvingly as he continued.

"I see. That's good. Now, how much for the girl?" He asked.

"What?" The waiter asked in stunned disbelief.

"I asked: How much for the girl?" He repeated.

The waiter quickly regained his bearings as he answered:

"Well, sir, it is quite rare for a customer to actually request for the purchase of a 'product'. However, we have a rule here that allows the sale of 'products'. Please wait here while I call my superior over to discuss the price."

"I understand. Please do so." The boy said.

As the waiter left, I quickly whispered to the boy.

"What are you doing?!" I whispered with a slightly high-pitched tone.

"Getting you out of here." He replied smoothly before turning his attention back towards the door.

As soon as he turned his attention back towards the door, the door opened and the manager, and the waiter stepped in.

"I believe that you wish to purchase this girl." The manager started.

"Yes, I do. Now then, the question is, how much will you charge for the girl?" He stated.

"Twelve million yen." The manager stated.

I stiffened.

Twelve million yen!

That's ridiculous!

That was equivalent to about 150, 000 USNA dollars!

I nervously looked towards the boy.

Would he really pay the hotel that much money just for me, someone he did not even know anything about aside from the fact that I was kidnapped and sold into prostitution, the activities of which I thankfully had not engaged in at this point in time?

To my surprise, the boy merely nodded and took out his smartphone.

"There is no problem. However, when I claim her, I would like to make it clear that I will not give her back, even if the hotel offers me a refund." The boy stated.

"Of course, sir. We will not carry out any such actions." The manager replied smoothly.

As the boy and the manager worked out the details of the deal, the waiter merely stood by at the manager's side with an impassive expression.

After the all the details were worked out, the boy used his mobile banking app to transfer the funds over to the hotel account before paying for the meal with his credit card. The manager then passed a large dark blue jacket over to the boy which the boy used to wrap around me.

The dark blue jacket was so large that the ends of it nearly reached my feet.

As the boy and I were escorted out via the back door, an expensive-looking black car stopped in front of us. A man dressed in a tuxedo came out and bowed to us. He had neatly combed brown hair and light brown eyes. After receiving a nod from the young boy, he turned back and opened the car door for us.

The young boy then extended his right hand towards the car.

"Ladies first." He said politely.

Flushing slightly, I slowly entered the car.

Shortly afterwards, the boy followed soon after.

Before the car drove off, the boy nodded towards the manager and waiter and they both bowed towards him in response.

As the car travelled down the road, the driver spoke.

"It's good to see you again." The driver started.

"The same to you too." The boy replied smoothly.

"So, who's the girl?" The brown haired man from earlier asked.

"She was kidnapped by some criminals before being sold to this 'hotel'. It is a good thing that I managed to save her before they did anything untoward to her." The boy replied.

The brown haired man frowned slightly in disgust before he continued speaking again.

"I see. Don't worry, we'll deal with them appropriately. However, how did you save her anyway?" The brown-haired man asked.

"I had to avoid drawing any unnecessary attention to myself. Thus, I used the least attention-grabbing way to save her. In other words, I bought her." The boy replied smoothly.

"Oh?"

Both men said simultaneously, each with an intrigued expression.

"So, what are you going to do with her?" The driver asked.

The boy seemed to ponder about it for a moment, his thumb and second finger on his chin as he adopted a thinking position, before he grinned teasingly and pulled me closer to him.

"Who knows? All I know is that I'm not letting her go. She's mine, after all." He said teasingly.

At that declaration (?), both men burst into laughter.

Meanwhile, I was too busy trying to hide my embarrassed facial expression from everyone in the car.

* * *

Year 2092, December 24, Christmas Eve, Tokyo, Japan, 11:30 p.m.

(Shizuka's POV)

The door of the hotel room suddenly opened as a familiar brown haired girl and that boy came in.

That familiar brown haired girl was my best friend, Mitsui Honoka.

"Honoka!" I cried out as I ran towards her.

As I embraced her into my arms, the boy had quickly shut the door behind us.

"There's not much time to explain but I would like both of you to prepare yourselves accordingly." The boy started.

"Huh? What are you talking abou- Honoka? What are you wearing?" I asked in confusion.

As Honoka was slowly taking off her large jacket, I caught a glimpse of her rather skimpy outfit. It wasn't that I really minded how she was currently dressed like. It was just that I never took Honoka for the type to dress so daringly.

"Ah! Shizuku-chan! Don't misunderstand! This is-this is-Ah! Those criminals forced me to wear this so please don't look at me like this is something that is perfectly acceptable to you!" Honoka said in a panicked tone as a panicked expression came over her face.

"Quickly put the jacket back on, Mitsui Honoka. We have a guest arriving." The boy said, showing no concern for our little 'conversation'.

"Huh? What guest?" Honoka asked in confusion.

Before he could respond, someone started knocking at the door.

The boy quickly opened it to reveal the visage of my father, Kitayama Ushio.

* * *

Year 2092, December 24, Christmas Eve, Tokyo, Japan, 11:55 p.m.

(Tatsuya's POV)

As the over-zealous father (Kitayama Ushio) reunited with his two 'daughters' (Kitayama Shizuku and Mitsui Honoka), I merely stood at the side, observing them.

Interrupting their happy reunion, I spoke to the father, Kitayama Ushio.

"Kitayama Ushio, I will like to discuss with you about our future course of action later. For now, I will leave you and the two girls alone so that all of you can catch up with each other." I said.

"I understand. Thank you very much for saving my daughters. I will carry out my discussion with you later." Kitayama Ushio replied even as he held both 'daughters' in his arms, their feet dangling slightly above the ground.

The girl, Mitsui Honoka, motioned for her 'father' to let go of her and after he did so, she made her way towards me.

She then bowed towards me as she spoke:

"Um…thank you very much for saving me and Shizuku! Um…uh…if it isn't too much trouble, please, just call me Honoka!"

I looked on at her for a moment before I gave my reply.

"Very well. Honoka." I replied.

For some reason, the girl, Honoka, flushed red even as she seemed slightly delighted (?) with herself.

"In that case, just call me Shizuku." The other girl, Kitayama Shizuku, said.

"Then, just call me Ushio!" The 'father'said in a friendly manner.

"I understand. Honoka, Shizuku and Ushio, I will see you later in about an hour's time." I replied as I bowed towards them before leaving the room and closing the door behind him.

* * *

As soon as I closed the door behind me, I immediately made my way to the room next to me. I tapped the card on the electronic reader feature that the lock had.

Upon hearing a 'click' sound signifying that the door was no longer locked, I quickly opened the door and entered the room before closing the door behind me and locking it.

I made my way to the window at the side of the room as I looked at the view outside of it.

It was slightly snowing and I could see the snowflakes falling gently upon the many buildings that dotted the city's landscape. The bright lights coming from the buildings below also added to the wonder of the spectacular view and I could see the buildings separated by the many roads which were illuminated by street lamps even as vehicles sped across them.

'A white Christmas, huh?' I mused silently.

I slowly turned back to see the two men that were with me earlier.

I had booked two rooms. The first one, which I booked on December 18, was for my own personal use and was currently being used by that 'family of three' for their reunion. The other one, which I had booked just recently, was to be used as a secure location for the meeting that was about to take place.

"Well then, shall we start?" The former driver asked.

"There is no problem. Let's begin." I replied but before we could properly start the meeting I continued to speak.

"However, before we start, I have one thing to say." I stated.

"Oh? What is it?" The brown haired man asked.

I merely looked at my watch before looking up to smile at them.

It was now 12 am.

"Merry Christmas, Captain Kazama, Lieutenant Sanada."

* * *

Well, then. This is chapter 3! Please review!


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Conflicted hearts

Disclaimer: I do not own Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei or any of its vibrant characters.

* * *

Year 2092, December 25, Christmas, Tokyo, Japan, 12 a.m.

(Tatsuya's POV)

"Well then, let's begin. Allow me to start by thanking both of you for aiding me in saving Mitsui Honoka." I said.

"There is no need to thank us. This may sound callous but I'm just glad that we got to see you again." Captain Kazama replied.

"Yeah, you disappeared on us shortly after the battle of Okinawa." Lieutenant Sanada added.

"I apologize for that. However, forgive me for saying this but I doubt that both of you are unaware of my current family situation, Captain Kazama and Lieutenant Sanada of the 101 Independent Magic Equipped Battalion." I stated.

At this statement, Lieutenant Sanada immediately stiffened while Captain Kazama, the more experienced of the two, gave no visible reaction except for the slight narrowing of his eyes.

"Let's drop all pretences here, Captain Kazama and Lieutenant Sanada. As members of Japan's military force, you should have immediately informed army headquarters the moment that I, an unofficial 'Strategic-Class' magician hiding from the government, contacted you. Yet, you didn't. The evidence of which is clearly shown by how there are currently no army units within the city of Tokyo. Instead, there are currently only police units in this city. If the government had wanted to capture me, it would have used the better-trained and better-equipped army units rather than the police units. Furthermore, I have already checked and confirmed the fact that I was not followed by any police officers after I had contacted you. This means that both of you are currently meeting me without the knowledge or consent of the army and the government." I reasoned in a calm tone of voice.

"What makes you think that there are currently no army units within the city of Tokyo right now? How can you be so certain that you have not been followed by police officers without your knowledge?" Captain Kazama asked in a calm tone of voice.

However, there was a glint of steel in his eyes.

"Do you really think that both the army and the police can escape my 'sight'?" I asked back.

The tension in the air was palpable.

Lieutenant Sanada's expression became tense as his hand, hovering dangerously close to his gun, twitched.

Upon realizing this, Captain Kazama sat down on the bed and his body relaxed.

"That's enough, Sanada. The current situation is already tense enough. We don't want to worsen it by fighting with Tatsuya-kun." Captain Kazama said calmly as he moved to defuse the situation.

Indeed, given the current situation, it wouldn't be surprising if a fight broke out now.

For both sides, fighting against the other party would not be in anyone's interest right now.

It seems that responding positively towards his 'overtures for peace' would be best for now.

I sat down on a nearby chair as well, allowing myself to relax as the tension seeped away from my body.

Upon seeing the actions of both Captain Kazama and I, Lieutenant Sanada moved his hand away from his gun and sat down on the bed as well, though the tension did not completely seep away from his body.

"Well then, first, let's review the facts. Captain Kazama, Lieutenant Sanada, please point out any errors that I might make during this review." I requested.

Both of them nodded their heads in agreement and I took it as my cue to start.

"Both of you are currently aware of my former duty as a guardian to the Yotsuba family. Both of you also know about my actual abilities and the fact that I was born to a member of the Yotsuba family. Finally, both of you are aware of why I had stopped serving the Yotsuba. However, the question is, how did you find out about this? After all, this information would have been closely guarded by the Yotsuba family, which is one of the Ten Master Clans in Japan and which also possess enormous wealth and influence in government, business, political and media circles. As such, it should have been next to impossible for the two of you to have found out about it unless, of course, someone from within the Yotsuba family told you two about it." I stated.

Captain Kazama merely looked on at me calmly for a moment before he slowly let out a sigh.

"There is no mistake in your reasoning. The one who told us about it was the head of the Yotsuba clan, Yotsuba Maya, also known as the 'Demon Lord of the Far East'." He admitted with a resigned tone.

"Oh? And why would she tell you two about it?" I questioned with a hint of suspicion in my tone.

"She wanted our help in capturing you." Captain Kazama answered.

My eyes narrowed slightly at them in response.

"Both Captain Kazama and I refused after we heard the truth about you. We didn't like the idea of forcing a kid to become a tool, acting not in the interests of the nation but instead in the interests of a privileged clan. We thought that she would then use her influence on our superiors to pressure us but surprisingly she didn't." Lieutenant Sanada quickly elaborated upon seeing the slight narrowing of my eyes.

I see. So Aunt Maya tried to get the aid of the 101 Independent Magic Equipped Battalion to capture me. It was understandable. After all, the unit had extremely talented individuals that could even rival those serving the Yotsuba clan.

However, she had failed. Not only that but she didn't even try to pressure the army superiors into helping her force the unit to participate in the Yotsuba clan's attempt to capture me. Most likely, that stemmed from her weakened position of having been defeated by a former servant of the Yotsuba family.

However, as long as the secret of her defeat was kept between those who had participated in that battle, her political position should not have been weakened. That meant that other parties must have found out about it somehow, such as the army and the 101 Independent Magic Equipped Battalion.

"I see. So the army was spying on our battle." I said in realization.

With an air that seemed to say "well, there's no point hiding it from him now" hanging around him,

Captain Kazama readily confessed to me.

"Yes, the army was spying on the battle. The arrival of Yotsuba Maya had attracted quite a fair bit of attention among the top army officers. Furthermore, the fact that you, who had practically annihilated an entire army all by yourself, refused to return to the base and even sent out a challenge to the Yotsuba, one of the most powerful magician clans in Japan, had only increased the interest that the army took in the case. As a result, the army decided to spy on your confrontation with the Yotsuba even if it ran the risk of offending Yotsuba Maya."

"So, to gain your support, she first had to gain your trust. To do so meant that she had to tell you the truth, especially since you had already witnessed my actual abilities and had probably overheard at least a part of the conversation that we had on the beach during our confrontation." I concluded.

"Yes, what you said is correct." Captain Kazama said even as he let out yet another sigh.

"However, that still does not explain why both of you had not reported me to army headquarters as soon as I had contacted both of you. Furthermore, I know for a fact that both of you are very loyal to your country or else both of you would not have been selected to join such an exclusive and secretive army unit. Since that is the case, the fact that both of you had not reported me to the government makes even less sense. The only possible reason for postponing such an action would be-" I started, only to be cut off by Captain Kazama as he finished the rest of the sentence for me.

"…to see what it is that you can offer." Captain Kazama finished calmly.

All three of us quietly stared at each other for a moment before I broke the silence.

"I have suspected this ever since the day I participated in that training session back in Okinawa but I feel that I must confirm whether my suspicions are true or not. Captain Kazama, the members of your unit are highly talented individuals, both as soldiers and magicians. However, while their talents would be of much use in actual combat, they would actually rank quite lowly based on the international rating scale for magicians. Certainly, the international rating scale does not take into account the effectiveness of the magician in actual combat so I could see why you would still take in those members regardless of the 'rating' that they received. However, just because you can think so rationally doesn't mean that those at the top can as well. Even if the unit had a lot of potential, there should still have been considerable resistance to its formation. Then, the question is, Captain Kazama, how did you manage to overcome resistance from the top in order to set up your unit?" I enquired with a questioning tone.

"…Tatsuya-kun, Captain Kazama is a war hero. He is also recognized as one of the best magicians and commanders that Japan has to offer. His influence is enormous so overcoming such resistance from the to-" Lieutenant Sanada started before I cut off his statement.

"Even if he is a war hero, as well as one of Japan's top commanders and magicians, there should still be a limit to the extent of his influence. Furthermore, the very fact that the unit is took in so many magicians who, despite their high combat-effectiveness, still rank low based on the international magician rating system, is like a slap to the face of what the ruling establishment has been promoting for decades now, that magicians who have low ratings are sub-par and thus deserve to be looked down upon while magicians who have high ratings are excellent and thus deserves to be honoured. To overcome what must have been considerable resistance from the top would have required more than just his influence alone. Therefore, the only other possible reason that I can think of is that-" I started.

"…is that I had backing from someone in the top ranks." Captain Kazama finished.

"In other words, the top ranks in the army is currently polarised and there is an internal 'debate' going on about whether or not the army should continue to believe in what the ruling establishment has been promoting for years." I concluded.

"Well, I guess it is obvious which side your unit is on, Captain Kazama. In that case, tell me, what is your impression of the Ten Master Clans? Do you approve and support the existence of such a system in Japan?" I questioned.

Captain Kazama merely looked at me with an impassive expression on his face before he let out a sigh and replied:

"No. I do not approve nor do I support the existence of such a system in Japan. To be frank, I feel that the Ten Master Clans hold too much power and influence, which they maintain by marrying talented magicians into their family, even if they have to resort to force to do so."

This was dangerous talk. Everything we have said so far could be considered treason against the ruling establishment of Japan and the consequences of others hearing about this could potentially cause the offenders to be sentenced to life imprisonment or even death.

However, right now, there were only Captain Kazama, Lieutenant Sanada and I in this room.

Using my 'sight', I could tell that no one was currently spying on us.

I could also tell that there were no hidden cameras or secret listening devices in the room.

Therefore, there was no need for restraint in speaking out about one's opinion.

"And what about you, Lieutenant Sanada? What are your thoughts on this matter?" I enquired with a polite tone.

A conflicted expression came over the lieutenant's face as he seemed to struggle for words. Eventually, he sighed and replied in a hesitant manner.

"I agree with Captain Kazama's opinion. I do not support nor approve of the existence of such a system in Japan. They have too much power right now and it is an open secret among many skilled magicians that their power struggles with each other had cost more than a few innocent lives."

"I see. Then allow me to ask both of you one more question." I requested calmly.

"What is it?"

Both of them asked simultaneously.

"Just what do the both of you see yourselves as?" I asked.

Captain Kazama merely smiled slightly at the question while a serious expression came over Lieutenant Sanada's face.

Together, they opened their mouths and answered as one.

"We're revolutionaries."

* * *

Year 2092, December 25, Christmas, Tokyo, Japan, 12:30 a.m.

"I see. Then, let us get back to the main topic of this conversation." I stated calmly.

At this statement, both of them immediately stiffened as their postures became rigid.

"Both of you came here today to find out what I could offer to the both of you. Or to be more precise, both of you came here today to find out what I could offer to your cause." I started as a serious expression came over my face.

I then continued.

"What I can offer is very simple. Power. Not the power of the Ten Master Clans, nor is it the power of the ruling establishment but a different form of power. A new power. One in which both of you can align yourselves with to bring much-needed change to this country."

"The power to annihilate an army, huh? I see. That kind of power would be incredibly useful in bringing about change to this country, especially as a weapon against those who would oppose us. Your impressive ability in the planning of tactics and strategies as well as your considerable skills in putting them into action would be a great asset against our enemies as well." Lieutenant Sanada mused.

"Technically, it isn't the power to annihilate an army. It is instead the power to destroy and perfectly reconstruct information sequences, though it can also be used to destroy an army, as we have all seen." Captain Kazama added.

At his statement, I smirked slightly.

His accurate depiction of my power confirmed the fact that he knew the truth about my actual abilities.

It's not that I didn't believe him when he said that he knew the truth.

However, it was always better to get some form of reassurance, especially since I couldn't completely trust him yet.

"Tell me about your allies. How extensive is your revolutionary network." I requested.

At this request, a slightly apologetic expression came over the Captain's face as he rejected my request.

"I'm sorry, Tatsuya-kun. But I can't trust you yet. If you want to know more, you have to fully commit yourself to our cause." Captain Kazama explained.

"There is no problem. Just tell me what you can." I stated.

Both Captain Kazama and Lieutenant Sanada seemed to ponder over this for a moment before the Captain spoke up again.

"All I can tell you is that we have many allies in the military and the police." Captain Kazama stated.

"I see. That's good enough for me. For now." I replied.

"Even if you can't fully trust me yet, that doesn't mean that cooperation between us is impossible. Let's collaborate." I offered.

"What do you have in mind?" Lieutenant Sanada asked.

"I'll need to set up the preparations first. Once the preparations are done, I will then give you more details."

"I see. That's fine with me, Tatsuya-kun." Captain Kazama said.

"That's fine with me as well." Lieutenant Sanada added.

"Very well. Then let's end the meeting here." I stated.

However, as I stood up and began to leave, Captain Kazama called out to me:

"Wait, Tatsuya-kun. Before you leave, I have to ask you some questions."

"Is it related to the revolution?" I asked.

"No, it isn't. However, I still feel that I must know the answer to these questions." Captain Kazama replied firmly.

"Very well. Ask away." I said, intrigued.

"Why did you save that girl? If I'm correct, that girl you saved is Mitsui Honoka, one of the victims of the recent kidnapping case. Earlier on, I saw Kitayama Ushio, the wealthy father of the other kidnapping victim, Kitayama Shizuku, enter the building as well. The fact that the father of another victim came to the same hotel as Mitsui Honoka, who had only just arrived shortly before, is too much of coincidence. This means that Kitayama Shizuku might be in this very building. Considering all of the current circumstances, including the fact that you had already saved one of the kidnapped victims, it is highly likely that you saved Kitayama Shizuku as well. So then, why? Why did you save both Mitsui Honoka and Kitayama Shizuku?"

In response to his queries, I merely closed my eyes for a moment before opening them again.

I see.

The kidnappers must have demanded for the Kitayama family to remain quiet and to not tell anyone else about Kitayama Shizuku's kidnapping, though the Kitayama family still brought the case to the police in order to seek the police's help. The police, like the kidnappers, would have wanted the case to remain confidential, albeit for different reasons that those of the kidnappers. As such, Captain Kazama should not have known about this case unless some of his police allies told him about it.

Well, it wasn't that surprising. After all, the Kitayama financial group is very large and influential. Information regarding the kidnap of the heir apparent, Kitayama Shizuku, would have been considered to be very important so it was no wonder why the Captain was informed of it by his police allies.

However, right now, I was not obliged to answer his questions. After all, our current situation was one in which neither party fully trusted each other. Both parties had something which we could use on the other party. Captain Kazama could simply inform the government of my current location and the government would immediately send men after me. On the other hand, if he did that, I would probably kill both Captain Kazama and Lieutenant Sanada.

However, while I'm confident that I could easily kill Lieutenant Sanada, I was not too sure about Captain Kazama. That man was dangerous, that was what my instincts were telling me. Sure, I could probably kill him but by the time I do, he may have already successfully informed the government of my current location.

Furthermore, to them, I'm probably someone that had just recently pledged his support to their cause and thus should be watched carefully, at least for a certain period of time.

Yet, they did help me out in the saving of Mitsui Honoka. They had also not asked anything in return for that. Furthermore, they did trust me to some extent, given that they had admitted to me about the fact that they were revolutionaries, a fact which could get them killed should it be exposed to the ruling establishment.

As such, they at least deserved to have some of their trust repaid, even if it is only in a limited way.

"Some members of the ruling establishment, including corporate leaders, government officials and certain members of the Ten Master Clan have links with the underworld." I started.

The moment I made this statement, I noticed that both Captain Kazama and Lieutenant Sanada gave me their full, undivided attention.

"As both of you should know, their connections with criminal groups have allowed them to maintain and increase their power and wealth, especially since some illegal activities like drug trafficking are very lucrative. In return, these elite members of society grant favours to the underground, either by helping to intercede on the criminals' behalf so that the criminals do not have to go to jail or, at most, only had to deal with short jail sentences and fines. I believe that both of you should at least have some knowledge of this issue." I elaborated further in my attempt to establish the context.

"Certainly, we know of it. However, what does that have to do with the rescue of Kitayama Shizuku and Mitsui Honoka?" Lieutenant Sanada interjected.

"For the past couple of days, I have been attacking criminal groups in Tokyo and disrupting their operations." I continued.

The facial expressions of both Captain Kazama and Lieutenant Sanada became alarmed at that statement.

"So you were the one that attacked those drug trafficking sites! The disappearance of those money laundering sites as well! Were you responsible for that as well, Tatsuya-kun?!" Lieutenant Sanada exclaimed.

"Yes, I was the one who attacked those criminal sites. I have targeted the criminal groups for a variety of reasons. One of which was that I wanted to erode away some of the power of the ruling establishment." I explained.

Well, technically I wasn't lying.

I really did attack those criminal groups so as to erode away some of the power and influence that the ruling elite had accumulated.

However, I didn't tell them the full truth either. After all, we still couldn't fully trust each other yet so it wasn't like I could just tell them that I also attacked them so as to gather up funds via 'reverse money-laundering'. If I did, it was inevitable that they would question me about the purpose of gathering up so much funds. Refusing to answer that question would hurt the already fragile trust between us.

"I see. So you wanted to hit them where it hurts the most, namely their pockets." Captain Kazama muttered in a low voice.

"So that means that you had already been against the ruling establishment even before we had this meeting, huh?" Lieutenant Sanada asked knowingly.

"You are correct, Lieutenant Sanada. Well, I suppose that makes us natural allies in this fight, huh?" I replied with a hint of amusement in my tone.

The two of us shared a brief laugh at that before Captain Kazama interjected.

"However, I still don't see what that has to do with the rescue of those two girls." Captain Kazama stated.

"The Kitayama family owns a large and international financial group. Having such a powerful and extensive group at one's disposal would enable a person to easily launder money." I stated.

At that statement, looks of realization started to appear on both men's faces.

"I see. So Kitayama Shizuku was kidnapped by money-launderers so as to force her father to cooperate with them in their money-laundering activities. Then during one of your confrontations with the criminal groups, you came across that particular money-laundering group and defeated them, saving Kitayama Shizuku in the process." Lieutenant Sanada said, having already figured it out.

"Correct." I stated, confirming the accuracy and truth of Lieutenant Sanada's inference.

"But what about Mitsui Honoka? Why was she kidnapped as well?" Captain Kazama asked.

"She was a friend of Kitayama Shizuku and she was with her during the kidnapping. She tried to stop the kidnappers but was taken along with them instead." I explained.

"I see. So she was just in the wrong place at the wrong time, huh?" Lieutenant Sanada asked rhetorically.

"Well, the end result isn't all that surprising. After all, she is still a child." Captain Kazama added.

"You know, I'm actually still a child as well." I said, reminding them of that fact.

"Well, yeah. But you're Tatsuya-kun so that doesn't count." Lieutenant Sanada explained.

"I agree." Captain Kazama said, expressing his agreement with Lieutenant Sanada's explanation while nodding his head slightly.

So the fact that I'm 'Tatsuya-kun' automatically makes me a child who is not normal?

Well…

It's not like I can't see where they are coming from.

However, such thoughts were irrelevant for now.

After making that conclusion, I re-focused my attention onto the conversation.

"So after you defeated that money-laundering group and saved Kitayama Shizuku, you found out about Mitsui Honoka's situation and went to save her. To pull it off, you even called both me and Lieutenant Sanada to help you." Captain Kazama inferred.

"Yes, you are correct, Captain Kazama." I stated.

"Alright, we understand the situation now. But you are still avoiding the question. Why did you save those two girls?" Lieutenant Sanada questioned.

I stayed quiet for a moment before letting out a resigned sigh.

"To be frank, I don't know why I saved them." I admitted candidly.

"What?"

Both men questioned with incredulous expressions on their face.

"To defeat the money-launderers and achieve my objectives, I had to use my secret natural decomposition magic. However, doing so would allow Kitayama Shizuku to see this secret of mine. As such, I had two options then. The first option was to save her and then take her away with me. The second option was to kill her." I explained.

At the word 'kill', Lietenant Sanada tensed while Captain Kazama merely looked on at me calmly before he stated:

"But you didn't kill her. Instead you saved not only her but her friend as well. From a purely strategic point of view, killing Kitayama Shizuku would have been the best option available to you since it would have allowed you to keep your secret. Yet, you didn't do so. You chose to save her instead even if doing so meant that one more person would know about your secret. Yet, you're telling me that you don't know why you saved her."

"To be honest…at that point in time, I didn't want to kill her for such a reason. Not when there was another path that I could take which would result in the accomplishment of my objectives as well as in giving that girl a chance to live. So if you really want a reason as to why I saved Kitayama Shizuku, that's all that I can really give you." I said with a conflicted tone.

"I see. You've already explained the reason why you saved Kitayama Shizuku. What about Mitsui Honoka? Why did you save her?" Captain Kazama enquired.

"Quite honestly, the best explanation that I can come up with is that I was slightly caught up in the moment. At that point in time, I had already saved Kitayama Shizuku so I thought that I might as well save Mitsui Honoka as well." I stated.

Both Captain Kazama and Lieutenant Sanada looked at each other for moment before turning their gazes back at me.

"I see. That's enough for now. Contact me when you're finished with your preparations." Captain Kazama said before he turned his back to me and started to leave.

Lieutenant Sanada quickly bade me farewell before following after Captain Kazama.

The moment they left the room and closed the door, I sank back down onto my chair, exhausted.

The meeting was more tiring than I expected.

To think that they would interrogate me to that degree.

However, one of the questions they asked still remained in my mind.

Why did I save Kitayama Shizuku and Mitsui Honoka?

Certainly, I was telling the truth when I told them my reasons for saving the two girls.

However, as both of them had probably suspected, I was not telling the full truth.

To be honest, even I do not know the complete truth.

A part of me was telling me that I had told them the full truth.

Yet another part of me was saying to me that I had knowingly not told them the full truth.

And it was that part of me that was making up a ridiculous notion.

However, that notion, while ludicrous, also intrigued me slightly.

It also brought up another question to me.

Did I really save them so that I could have a companion?

* * *

Year 2092, December 25, Christmas, Tokyo, Japan, 1 a.m.

A companion, huh?

Ever since I was born, I was made to train both physically and mentally.

I also had to take on a wide range of academic subjects as well as many different forms of physical and combat training.

I had also learnt to be self-sufficient from a young age.

From the age of five, I had already started learning how to cook and clean.

At the age of six, I had already mastered the art of cooking and cleaning.

Then, at the age of seven, I met the person who would, however reluctantly, become my companion for the next six years.

Shiba Miyuki.

Well, technically I met her before I reached the age of seven. However, before I officially became her guardian at seven years of age, I had only seen her occasionally.

Certainly, I loved her. Even till now, after we've separated from each other, I still have not stopped loving her.

However, as a companion, she was cold and distant, as she should have been since she was my Mistress.

Eventually, that drove us apart as I left to find my own way of life.

However, when I decided to take Kitayama Shizuku away, and when I decided to save Mitsui Honoka by 'buying' her from that hotel, I had, in all honesty, felt a little excited.

Did I feel excited because I had found someone to accompany me?

I wonder.

If Mitsui Honoka asked for her freedom, would I really deny her that freedom just so that I could have her as my companion?

What about Kitayama Shizuku? Would she also ask for the same thing?

More importantly, would I deny her freedom as well?

Shaking my head at that thought, I focused my eyes on the ground.

No.

I would not do something like that.

If both of them really asked me for their freedom, I would let them go.

After all, if it is not mutual, there is no point in staying together as companions.

That was a lesson I had learnt from my time spent with Miyuki.

Neither of us was given the freedom to choose our companion.

Ultimately, our relationship ended.

But, would I feel lonely?

…

As much as I hate to admit it, I would have to say yes. I would feel lonely.

At least a little.

Perhaps I should find myself a companion then.

Regardless, Mitsui Honoka had not requested for her freedom from me.

Neither did Kitayama Shizuku.

I suppose that before I go overseas, I will have to ask them whether or not they wished to become my companions.

* * *

Year 2092, December 25, Christmas, Tokyo, Japan, 1:10 a.m.

After tapping the key on the electronic reader, I heard a 'beep' sound as the door to my other hotel room was unlocked.

Upon entering the room, I was greeted by the sight of both Kitayama Shizuku and Mitsui Honoka sleeping together on the same king-sized bed.

Seating on the side of the bed, Kitayama Ushio smiled as he saw me enter.

I quickly closed the door behind me and made my way to him.

"Sorry about this but it seems that the both of them were really too tired to wait for you." He stated apologetically.

"There is no problem. Now then, shall we start our discussion?" I asked in a curt tone.

"Certainly. Let's move over to the other side of the room so that we can avoid disturbing the girls' sleep." He requested.

After I acquiesced to his request, both of us moved to the other side of the room where the sofa and chair were located at.

While I sat on the chair, he sat on the sofa that was across the table.

Neither of us made a sound as we silently stared at each other across the table, each thinking about what we should say.

In the end, he was the one who broke the silence.

"I have already heard from those two about the ordeal that they went through as well as about how you saved them." He started.

At his statement, I narrowed my eyes slightly at the man.

"I'll ignore the details about how you saved Shizuku for now. Let's start with Honoka first. I would like to first thank you for risking your life to save my daughter, Honoka." He said even as he thanked me sincerely while bowing his head.

"Please don't bow your head, Kitayama Ushio. I didn't do that much, after all." I said.

"You risked your life and entered into that shady hotel bar that was filled with people connected to the underworld and yet you say that you didn't do much. Hahaha…you certainly are a funny guy, huh?" He said with an amused tone.

"Kitayama Ushio, there was something that you said that bothered me. It appears that both you and Mitsui Honoka are quite close to each other. You even referred to her as your daughter. However, Mitsui Honoka told me that both her parents had died in a car accident." I said while frowning slightly in confusion.

"Ah…that, huh? Honoka-chan's parents died in a car accident when she was really young. She was then sent to an orphanage to be taken care of. Shortly afterwards, she met Shizuku-chan and the two of them became good friends." He explained.

"I see. So she became close enough to the Kitayama family that even you, the head of the Kitayama family, considered her as your own daughter, huh?" I inferred.

"You are correct! Honoka is like a daughter to me! Unlike some of Shizuku's peers, she never once asked for any favours from Shizuku and she has stood by Shizuku when Shizuku needed support! That kind of person doesn't just appear in front of you everyday!" He praised.

"Then why not just adopt her? After all, your family seems to like her so much and it's not like your family can't afford it." I queried.

"You know…Honoka-chan can be very stubborn when she wants to. She didn't want to make it seem like she was only friends with Shizuku so that she can get favours from or be adopted into the Kitayama family. We tried to persuade her but she just wouldn't budge. We also couldn't pressure her too much or else she might leave so we didn't push the issue." He elaborated.

I see.

So Mitsui Honoka was that kind of person, huh?

Extremely loyal with a tendency to not pursue her own self-interests.

She would make a good companion.

However, I doubt that Kitayama Ushio would just let that happen without a fight.

"Well, that being the case, I can't really say that I approve of the way that you saved Honoka-chan. To do something so intimate with each other when you are both so young…well, I can understand why it was necessary but still…that id my daughter that you were touching." He stated with a slight frown on his face.

"I understand where you're coming from, Kitayama Ushio. Do not worry. I will not force her to do any such thing again without her consent." I said with a sincere tone.

"From the way you're saying it, it doesn't seem like you plan to stop. All you're saying is that you won't force her to do any such thing again." He accused.

"Of course. I plan to make her mine, after all." I replied challengingly.

Both of us then glared at each other for a moment before I continued on.

"Let's move on to Kitayama Shizuku. You are probably curious about the unusual way that I saved her." I said.

"Even till now, I cannot figure out just how you saved her. The only thing that she said was that you caused all the money-launderers to disappear along with the ropes that were binding her as well as the rest of the items in that place she was held in. Unlike my wife, I'm not a magician so I probably can't understand this as well as her but what she saw was definitely magic!" He exclaimed with a slightly louder voice, though it was still low enough to avoid disturbing the two girls from their slumber.

"I believe that you at least understand the concept of information structures and how they relate to events and 'items'?" I asked with a polite tone.

"Yes, my wife explained it to me." He replied.

"Very well. Then let me demonstrate to you my power." I stated.

I then extended my right hand towards a glass cup that was on the table. Using my 'sight', I analysed the information structures of some parts the cup before I used my natural decomposition magic to decompose them.

Upon the loss of some of its parts, the glass cup 'shattered' into pieces and fell onto the table.

Surprised by what happened, Kitayama Ushio flinched even as his body moved slightly away from the 'shattered' cup.

"What I did was that I decomposed the information structures of some parts of the cup. The loss of those parts caused the glass cup to 'shatter' into pieces." I explained.

"What the?! That's impossible! I have never heard of such a thing before!" He exclaimed loudly as he stood up from his chair.

At his loud exclamation, both girls stirred slightly in their sleep but they did not wake up.

Upon noticing that, Kitayama Ushio immediately calmed down.

"What your daughter witnessed was a wide-range combat application of my natural decomposition magic. While it may have seemed as if those criminals had disappeared, what actually happened was that their bodies had faded into non-existence." I elaborated.

"I've never heard of a magician that could do such thing before! You must have used some other type of magic to cause the glass cup to shatter!" He said loudly.

Sighing slightly, I merely put my hand on the table and asked him this:

"Then can you explain this?"

Immediately after I asked my question, I decomposed the table, causing it to fade into nothingness.

Upon seeing such a thing, Kitayama Ushio jumped up from the sofa and backed away from me as far as possible, his back pressed up against the wall.

"What the?!"

"If you really still believe that this is some type of magic other than my natural decomposition magic, then, please explain it to me." I 'requested'.

He looked at me warily for a moment before he relaxed his body, though he still remained standing.

"You…just who are you?" He asked warily.

I merely smirked at him slightly before answering.

"I'm one of Japan's unofficial 'Strategic-Class' magicians." I replied.

"So you work for the government?" He asked.

Resisting the urge to roll my eyes at the fact that he asked such a question almost immediately after I revealed the fact that I was a 'Strategic-Class' magician, I replied to him and even made a request.

"No, I work for myself. By the way, Kitayama Ushio, I must ask that you keep this fact a secret from everyone else, especially the government." I requested politely.

I sincerely hoped that he would accept my request.

After all, if he rejected my request, I would have to kill him since I couldn't afford to give the government the opportunity to track me down.

He merely continued to look at me warily for a moment before he sighed and sat back down on the sofa again.

"Fair enough. You did save both my daughters, after all." He replied.

"Thank you very much, Kitayama Ushio." I said as I bowed my head to him.

"Then, shall we start discussing our future course of action?" He asked.

"Certainly." I replied.

"While the ones who kidnapped my daughters were criminals, I doubt that they would have had the guts to kidnap the daughter of the head of one of the most powerful financial groups in the world. Not unless they had someone powerful backing them." He stated.

"So you suspect that they were being backed by someone? But if so, then who would back them?" I asked.

With a serious expression on his face, he began to answer:

"Most likely, someone within the top tiers of the government. Recently, there has been increasing support in parliament for a bill which, if successfully passed, would impose a lot of new measures aimed at curbing money-laundering. Most likely, some top corrupt government officials thought that the passing of such a bill might hinder their attempts at embezzlement and money-laundering so they figured that they needed a financial network that was large and extensive enough to greatly ease the difficulty of money-laundering in the event that the bill is successfully passed. And the only financial network in Japan that fits that kind of criteria is-"

"…the Kitayama financial group." I finished.

"Exactly." He said.

"I see. So the criminals played along since whether or not that bill is successfully passed doesn't matter to them. Ultimately, the final outcome still remains as that of increased ease in their money-laundering activities. Such an outcome would help them better hide their tracks, raise their profit margins and facilitate the expansion of their 'business'." I inferred.

"That's most likely to be the case." He replied.

"If that's the case, then the enemy would most likely make another move soon. After all, they had just lost their trump card and that bill that they were so afraid of is gaining traction in parliament." I said.

"Yes, they would most likely try to reclaim Shizuku. I can arrange for some bodyguards to protect her but I'm not sure how successful that measure would be since we are dealing with top government officials who have the support of such dangerous criminal groups." He said in frustration.

Both of us remained in silence as we tried to figure out how to solve this particular dilemma of ours.

"I have an idea." I suddenly said.

"What is it?" He asked.

"I will take both Mitsui Honoka and Kitayama Shizuku under my protection. I believe that the protection of a 'Strategic-Class' magician should assuage your worries for their safety. " I stated.

"It does. But then what should I do?" He queried.

"You should return home and act as if Kitayama Shizuku has not been returned to the Kitayama family yet. This way, those corrupt government officials won't suspect that Kitayama Shizuku has been rescued and they would instead think that someone else had taken her away instead." I explained.

"I see. This way we can prevent both of the girls from getting involved any further." He stated.

"However, there is still something you are not telling me, Kitayama Ushio." I said with a sharp tone.

In response to my statement, Kitayama Ushio merely looked at me with a confused expression.

"What would I be hiding from you?" He asked.

"Earlier on, you mentioned that they would try to reclaim Kitayama Shizuku as their trump card. However, that was only under the assumption that they believed that she had returned to her family. Yet, even if such a situation occurred, I doubt that they would be so foolish to carry out such an action since there would have been increased security for her. Certainly, the criminals would be the ones to take the blame but there is still a chance that the police could still trace it back to them. Furthermore, what those corrupt government officials wanted was to greatly ease the difficulty of money-laundering. In that case, they could have achieved the same result even without using the Kitayama financial group. Instead, they could have used a group of smaller international financial companies based in Japan together to achieve the same result. There was no need to resort to kidnapping a young girl in the first place, especially since that would make an enemy out of the head of the powerful Kitayama family." I reasoned with an impassive expression on my face.

However, while I was elaborating on my line of reasoning, the expression on Kitayama Ushio's face became tenser as time went on.

"Since that is the case, why, then, would those corrupt officials resort to kidnapping Kitayama Shizuku in the first place? Why would they willingly want to make an enemy out of the Kitayama family head? Unless…the head of the Kitayama family already was their enemy." I deduced.

"It seems like I can't hide it from you, huh?" He mused as his facial expression relaxed.

"Hide what?" I asked sharply.

"You are correct. They didn't have to resort to kidnapping my daughter in the first place. Don't get me wrong, they really did have her kidnapped so as to force the cooperation of the Kitayama family, and by extension, the Kitayama financial group. Regardless of whether that bill is successfully passed in parliament, the increased ease in money laundering would have helped them anyway. However, their main focus was entirely different." He explained.

"Oh? And what was their main focus?" I asked.

"As you already know, they wanted to ease the difficulty of their money laundering activities in case that bill is successfully passed. However, that was ultimately a backup plan. Their main focus was primarily fixated on preventing parliament from successfully passing the bill in the first place." He elaborated.

"And how would kidnapping Kitayama Shizuku prevent the successful passing of the bill?" I queried.

"Ultimately, the members of parliament are also politicians. To fund their campaigns and get into office and then to stay in office, they will need sponsors. For the bill to have gained so much traction in parliament, the politicians promoting it would have needed someone to heavily fund their campaigns, especially since the bill goes against powerful vested interests that are as well-funded as they are if not even better. And that someone was-" He started.

"…Kitayama Ushio, the head of the powerful Kitayama family who is active in promoting greater transparency in government spending, financial transactions and money transfers, all of which would make it more difficult for the corrupt officials to embezzle and launder government funds." I finished.

"This was their other reason for kidnapping my daughter. They wanted to threaten me to cut off my funding and support for the bill. That way, there was a good chance of the bill being stalled or rejected in parliament." He stated.

At this point in time, a normal person would have objected to Kitayama Ushio's reasoning, arguing that the high public support that such a reformist bill would surely have would have been sufficient to pass the bill in parliament.

However, I did not make such an objection.

After all, anyone familiar with the inner workings of politics, such as me, would have agreed with Kitayama Ushio's reasoning.

There would be some public disgust directed against the politicians who stalled or rejected the bill in parliament.

However, even that would not have been enough to push those politicians to support the bill.

Despite rising public anger directed against the incompetence or corruption of the current ruling establishment, it has not reached a level where the public would forcefully call for change and reform.

Not yet, anyway.

Thus, the politicians who opposed or stalled the bill in parliament were likely to retain their offices even if the bill was rejected.

Therefore, there would have been no incentive for them to support the bill, especially since doing so might make an enemy out of some very powerful people.

That, and the fact that some of those politicians were also involved in embezzlement and money-laundering themselves.

In that case, rejecting or stalling the bill in parliament would actually be in their best interests.

That meant that forcing Kitayama Ushio to cooperate with them and to cut off his support for the bill would be imperative.

"I see. I understand now. Regardless, there is still no need to change the plan. We need to make it seem as though Kitayama Shizuku was taken away by another group and thus still has not returned to her family. That should be enough to distract them for now since they would be too busy pursuing a non-existent group and would thus not suspect that you knew her actual location. As long as Kitayama Shizuku is safe and kept hidden from them, they will not have any leverage over you and you can devote your full attention to helping push the bill through parliament. We can figure out how to permanently deal with those corrupt officials after the bill is passed." I stated."

"Wait. Why do you want this bill to be successfully passed into law? Do you want it because it will benefit this country, which would appeal to you as a citizen? Or do you want it for some other reason?" He enquired with a suspicious tone.

"Does my reason for wanting such a thing matter in the current situation?" I asked back with a bland tone.

"Yes, it does. I need to know whether or not I can trust you." He shot back.

"Right now, both of us are dealing with the same enemy which, might I remind you, comprises of top corrupt government officials and dangerous criminal groups. As such, none of us has a choice except to trust each other." I pointed out.

He looked pensive for a moment before he accepted my answer with a resigned expression.

"Fair enough." He stated with a resigned tone.

I sighed.

It would be best not to end this meeting in such a way.

"If you really want a reason, Kitayama Ushio, let's just say that I have no love for the current ruling establishment. I have been hurt by it before." I said.

"So you hold a grudge against the current ruling establishment, huh? And helping the bill get passed will help you get back at them? Well, I can accept that. I know for a fact that many people have been hurt by the corruption and incompetence of the current ruling class." He stated.

"Now that you know my reason, I hope that you can at least trust me a little and carry out what I have suggested." I requested.

"It seems like that is the best course of action for now. Very well, I'll do as you say. Let's contact each other if any new developments occur." He said as he passed me a card with his personal mobile phone number on it.

"Agreed." I replied as I wrote down my number on a small piece of paper before passing it to him.

Soon afterwards, we bade farewell to each other and he left the room through the hotel door.

* * *

Year 2092, December 25, Christmas, Tokyo, Japan, 8 a.m.

As I looked through my accounts via my mobile terminal and laptop, I carefully scanned through the lists of my assets, purchases and the account balance.

So far, there appeared to be no irregularities in my accounts' statements.

I then looked through the data that I had gathered on various assets, properties and companies based in the USNA, the European Union and Turkey.

As I was scanning through the data, I looked out for parts which seemed interesting or seemed vague, unclear or even shady. These were the parts that would require more research.

Shortly after I had completed my work, as if on cue, both Mitsui Honoka and Kitayama Shizuku stirred from their slumber and slowly woke up.

In response, I immediately turned off my laptop and mobile terminal before proceeding to put them away in my bag.

Standing up from my chair, I made my way to their (my) bed and stood next to them as they slowly got up.

As they sat up in bed, Kitayama Shizuku rubbed her eyes sleepily and Mitsui Honoka yawned lightly. They slowly looked around the room, taking in the sight of it, as if they were still trying to get used to their new surroundings. Then, they turned their eyes towards me.

The reaction was instantaneous.

* * *

Year 2092, December 25, Christmas, Tokyo, Japan, 8:50 a.m.

(Honoka's POV)

As I slowly woke up, I adopted a sitting position on the bed. Rubbing my eyes blearily, I then lightly let out a small yawn as I looked around the room.

So, it really wasn't a dream.

Both Shizuku-chan and I really had been kidnapped.

Afterwards, both of us had been saved by a mysterious young boy.

That also meant that what I did together with that boy was not a dream.

Blushing slightly at the thought, I remember how soft his lips were.

The pleasurable sensation I felt as his body was pressed tightly against mine.

I knew that what we had done was just an act.

An act meant to trick those hotel staff.

Yet, despite knowing the fact that it was all an act, I knew that I wasn't thinking straight at that time.

When he had pushed me down onto that sofa,

the moment he had kissed me,

what I had done afterwards was not out of cold calculation,

it was out of pure emotion,

pure desire.

Shaking my head to clear it of such thoughts, I looked around the room to search for Shizuku-chan's father as well as for that boy.

I turned my head to the side, only to be greeted with the sight of that boy next to the bed.

Embarrassed at the close proximity between us, and at the fact that I was just thinking of all the inappropriate things that we had just done together in the hotel bar, I immediately backed awat from him, my face flushing.

"Ah…um, what are you doing here?!" I squeaked out loudly.

He merely looked at me with a raised eyebrow before he replied.

"Well, this is my room and that is technically my bed you are sitting on." He drawled.

Embarrassed, I immediately tried to get off his bed but he merely stood in front of me, stopping me from getting off his bed.

"There's no need for you to get off the bed. Just lay down there and sleep for the rest of the day." He said with a tired expression.

"Bu-But that would be too inappropriate! This is your bed, after all. I couldn't possible do such a thing!" I stammered out in a panic.

"Calm down. I don't mind. Look, your friend is following my instructions and resting as well." He stated with a bored expression on his face.

I quickly turned my head towards Shizuku-chan only to find out that that boy was right.

Shizuku-chan was currently sitting up, with her back resting against the wall as her eyes remained slightly open before closing and then slightly opening again. This repeated several times.

"Sh-Shizuku-chan! Quickly, get up! You're resting on someone else's bed!" I squeaked out.

The young boy just sighed at my antics while Shizuku-chan opened her eyes more fully this time and stared at me.

"What's the problem, Honoka? He doesn't mind and I'm tired." She drawled out.

"This is still someone else's bed!" I shouted out.

"Are you sure that you are not just worried about him doing something to us while we sleep?" She asked nonchalantly.

!  
My face became even redder.

Shizuku-chan, he is right next to us, you know!

For his part, the boy merely averted his eyes from us, though his face remained impassive.

"Calm down, Honoka. He hasn't done anything to us yet even though he had ample opportunities to do so. Furthermore, he saved us from those criminals. Oh, wait, I see…you are still embarrassed about what happened at the hotel bar, huh? Well, I'm not really surprised. But Honoka, remember? That was just an act." She stated.

"Ah—wha—ugh—gah!" I stammered out.

"I can't even understand what language she are speaking right now, Honoka." She sighed out.

"Very well, if you're so embarrassed about what you did, I will do something embarrassing as well. That way, you won't be the only one feeling embarrassed and thus can't complain." She said with a resigned expression.

She then proceeded to wrap an arm around the boy's neck before bringing him down onto the bed with her.

"Gah! Shizuku-chan, what're you doing?" I asked, scandalised, but she ignored me.

"Kitayama Shizuku, may I enquire as to what you're doing?" The boy asked with an impassive tone.

"You are tired as well. You stayed up later than us and I'm pretty sure that you didn't sleep at us. So sleep." She said as her eyes slowly closed.

The boy seemed to ponder over it for a moment before he seemingly gave up and closed his eyes as he drifted off to sleep.

Those two!

Do they not feel even a tiny bit of embarrassment?!

A teenage boy and a teenage girl!

Sleeping on the same bed!

In a hotel!

As if that was already not bad enough, Shizuku-chan proceeded to wrap her arms around the boy's body, snuggling into his body's warm embrace.

For his part, the boy seemed to accept Shizuku-chan's embrace as he wrapped an arm around her waist in response, bringing her body closer to his.

How shameless!

How scandalous!

Yet, I could not but feel a slight pang in my heart.

So, he would do this kind of thing with just any girl?

I see.

So that's why he was so nonchalant during that act we had in the hotel bar.

As if sensing my distress, two pairs of eyes looked at me from the bed.

Upon noticing their attention on me, I quickly turned my head around in distress.

I absolutely could not let them know that I was feeling jealous.

"Come here, Honoka." Shizuku-chan requested (ordered).

Upon seeing that I wasn't about to move, she got up and grabbed me from behind, pushing me down onto the bed.

She held me down with surprising force, positioning me in between the two of them.

"Let's sleep." She stated with a bored tone.

"Agreed." The boy said.

Then, they both drifted off to sleep, each of them embracing me (and each other) from one side.

This is even worse, Shizuku-chan! I feel even more embarrassed now!

As I panicked, one of Shizuku-chan's eyes opened and looked at me sharply.

"Honoka." She called out.

"Ye-Yes?" I cried out in surprise.

"Sleep. Now." She ordered before she went back to sleep again.

Seeing that neither of them was going to relent, I gave up and drifted off to sleep as well.

* * *

Year 2092, December 25, Christmas, Tokyo, Japan, 1 p.m.

I slowly opened my eyes as I awoke from my slumber (again).

However, unlike earlier, this time I was caught in between the embrace of two people, one on each side of me, with our limbs tangled together.

Looking up, I saw that both Shizuku-chan and the boy who saved us were staring at each other.

Quickly glancing downwards, I avoided looking at them as I pretended to be asleep, closing my eyes in the process.

"How long have you been awake?" The boy asked.

"Mmm. Just for the past few minutes." She replied.

"I see. That's the same as me, I guess." He said.

Sighing slightly, Shizuku-chan stated:

"You have work to do now, don't you?"

"Yes." He replied.

"Don't let us obstruct your work, then. I will take care of Honoka." She said even as she tightened her embrace of me.

"Thank you." The boy said shortly afterwards as he proceeded to entangle his limbs from ours.

"Wait." Shizuku-chan called out.

"Hm? What is it-" The boy asked before Shizuku-chan grabbed the back of his head and drew him closer to her.

As she drew closer to him, her lips met his as they shared a kiss.

At first, it was only their lips that were touching.

However, soon the boy's tongue entered her mouth and their tongues started wrestling with each other.

Yet, their tongues were doing so gently as their embrace of me (and of each other) tightened.

Shizuku-chan brought her mouth closer to his as she deepened the kiss.

The boy responded by bringing his own mouth closer to her as well as he grabbed the back of her head with one hand and stroked her hair.

Shortly afterwards, they broke the kiss, with both of them being slightly breathless.

"Why did you do that, Kitayama Shizuku?" He asked calmly.

"I was just a little jealous, that's all." She admitted candidly before continuing.

"Well, you can also take this as my way of telling you that I'm interested."

"I see." The boy said.

Afterwards, they remained in silence for a while as both of them pondered over what they had just done.

The boy opened his mouth to speak but Shizuku-chan cut him off.

"Go. You have work to do, right?" She said.

The boy looked on at her silently for a moment before sighing as he entangled himself from our limbs.

As he made his way over to the table and brought out both his laptop and mobile terminal, Shizuku-chan merely held me closer to her as she brought my face closer to her chest such that my forehead was now touching it.

As she drifted off to sleep (again), she stroked my head with one hand.

Soon, her breathing evened out and she was asleep.

With so many conflicting emotions warring in my heart, and the soothing sounds of my friend's light breathing, my eyes eventually closed and I fell asleep as well.

* * *

Year 2092, December 26, Balcony of an unidentified hotel in Tokyo, Japan, 8 p.m.

(Tatsuya's POV)

As I sat there on the balcony of the hotel, my eyes remained closed as I focused on using my 'sight'.

As I used my 'sight', I could 'see', read and analyse the information structures of all the 'objects' that were in this city. I could see all the events that were happening in the city, every transaction, every interaction and every criminal activity.

Earlier on, when I was attacking major money-laundering sites, I used my laptop, special thumbdrives and a hacking program to gather information about the bank accounts used by the money launderers before breaking into those accounts and carrying out 'reverse money laundering'.

However, that was not all.

The hacking program's main function was carrying out 'reverse money laundering'.

However, one of its other functions was gathering personal or business information (of the users) that was stored on hardware devices, whether relevant or not to 'reverse money-laundering'.

That means that I now had a treasure trove worth of information about criminal activities in Tokyo, which enabled me to further track down and monitor criminal activities in this city, on top of using my 'sight'.

Before, I used this ability to monitor and attack criminal sites so that I could gather up funds, distract the police and save both Mitsui Honoka and Kitayama Shizuku.

Now, I would still be using this ability to monitor criminal sites.

However, this time, it would not be me that is attacking the criminal sites in this city.

Bringing the communication device to the side of my face, I switched it on and proceeded to speak.

"Captain Kazama, has your police allies raided those three sites that I told you about?" I asked.

"Yes, Tatsuya-kun. Regarding the information you provided about those three major drug-trafficking sites, my allies in the police followed up on it and confirmed that your intel was correct. Shortly afterwards, they raided the sites and arrested the criminals." He replied.

"I see. So, I believe that you can now invest more of your trust in me?" I enquired.

"Yes, I can have more trust in you now. Well, to a certain extent…" He stated.

"That will have to suffice for now. Captain Kazama, is everyone in position?" I asked with a serious tone.

"Yes. As you requested, we have units stationed all over Tokyo, especially in the districts of Shinjuku, Ginza, Otemachi and Akasaka. I have also told them to keep a low profile and to remain undetected." He replied.

"Very well. I'm going to start sending information regarding the locations of the other sites of criminal activities to those email addresses that you specified. The moment that your police allies receive them, please tell them to immediately analyse it and disseminate the information to the rest of the units. I had already purposely arranged for the specific locations where your allied police units are stationed to be located near to the criminal sites. This way, your allies should be able to quickly identify, confirm and then raid those sites." I said.

"Alright, I got it, Tatsuya-kun. Stay safe-Ah! I just received confirmation from my allies that they had just received your emails. They are analysing the information now and will soon disseminate it to the rest of the units." "Captain Kazama stated.

"That's good. I'll contact you if I 'see' any new developments happening on the ground. Over and out." I said before breaking off the connection.

The cold wind blew over the hotel balcony as I sat there in silence, 'watching' and monitoring any actions being taken by the criminals and my 'allies'.

As I continued 'watching' them, I noticed that the police had started moving.

Very well.

Then,

"Let's get started."

* * *

Bloody hell, that was the longest chapter I had ever written! Well, chapter 4 is done! Please review!


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5: Angel

Disclaimer: I do not own Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei or any of its vibrant characters.

* * *

Year 2092, December 28, Tokyo, Japan, 8 a.m.

For today's morning news, we bring you an update on the current situation regarding the heavy fighting that had recently erupted between gangs in Tokyo.

For the past two weeks, fighting between the gangs in Tokyo has been very intense. Earlier on, on December 19, the frequency of gang fights in the city of Tokyo started to increase rapidly. As the days went on, not only the frequency but also the intensity of gang fights in Tokyo had spiked up, causing a large and still increasing number of casualties.

At the last count on December 26, the number of casualties had reached an all-time high of 1000 people, 600 of which are dead, 100 severely injured and 200 suffering only light injuries.

The fighting supposedly started on December 16 when criminal sites such as drug trafficking sites within Tokyo were attacked. Suspicion and finger-pointing among the gangs greatly increased the friction between different gangs. The situation was also further exacerbated by online rumours that blamed specific gangs for the attacks.

Ultimately, violence broke out among the gangs on December 19.

In light of this serious situation, police officials and experts have expressed surprise at the relatively low numbers of civilian casualties (about 50 civilians were lightly injured). So far, all the dead or seriously injured casualties were gang members belonging to a large number of different, opposing gangs. In addition, most of the casualties who were lightly injured were gang members as well.

Such a scenario has baffled police officials and experts alike, with some even calling this a 'Christmas miracle'.

However, the police had expressed "serious concern" about the recent fighting, calling it "extremely intense" and "ferocious". While police officials concede that fighting between the gangs in Tokyo had always been serious, they pointed out that the recent fighting had an "unusually high frequency of gangs fights" which had "an unexpectedly high level of violence" involved.

Yet, police officials assured us that the city will soon become safe again for its normal, law-abiding residents.

In the past two days, starting on December 26, 8:20 pm, many police units in the city of Tokyo have carried out highly coordinated and daring raids on several criminal sites and areas which had a high frequency of gang fights. According to the police, a large number of criminals, ranging from gang members fighting against each other for territory to drug traffickers and pimps carrying out their illegal businesses had been arrested. Almost all of them are expected to be charged by the police for a series of offences such as assault, drug-trafficking, soliciting and prostitution, all of which carries severe penalties ranging from three to twenty years in jail, life imprisonment and in some cases, death.

The public response to such raids has been overwhelmingly positive, with several citizens praising the Tokyo police for taking "bold actions" in stopping criminals in their tracks and securing the safety of the people.

Indeed, the end results of such raids appear to be highly positive as the frequency and intensity of gang fights and other criminal activities had been sharply reduced. Safety also appears to have been restored to the city and most civilians we spoke to in interviews have stated their belief that the city's safety had been greatly improved, with the vast majority attributing it to the recent police raids.

In other news, the police department is currently going under major restructuring as many police officials, both high-ranking and low-ranking ones, had been arrested for a series of crimes such as embezzlement, taking bribes, corrupting evidence in many criminal cases, collusion with criminal organizations as they carried out their illegal activities such as illegal arms-trafficking and abuse of power. Even the anti-corruption bureau, which was meant to supervise the police and prosecute corrupt police officers, was not spared as it underwent a recent purge of its own officers.

On December 26, in the early afternoon, three separate meetings occurred. One meeting was held between high-ranking police officials in the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Headquarters while the other meeting was held between larger groups of low-ranking police officials (who came from different districts in Tokyo) at the Tokyo Conference Hall. The last meeting was held between both high-ranking and low-ranking anti-corruption bureau officers in their headquarters.

At 4:30 pm, several police units headed by their squad leaders and other high-rankings anti-corruption bureau officers raided these meeting places, arresting scores of police officials and anti-corruption bureau officers suspected of crimes.

The proximity of these anti-corruption raids to the starting of the actual raids on criminal sites has led some observers to speculate that some non-corrupt police officials had actually decided to purge the police force of corrupt officers so as to ensure that the corrupt officers could not sabotage the raids on the criminal sites, either by tipping off the criminals in advance or by allowing the criminals to escape under their watch.

Currently, both the police force and anti-corruption task force are continuing with their internal purges in their attempt to rid themselves of corrupt officers.

With many of the corrupt officers purged, experts believe that both the criminals and corrupt officers are unlikely to get away this time as they find themselves left with little to no allies in both the police and anti-corruption task force.

During the raids, the police had also obtained what they have called "critical information" regarding money-laundering, embezzlement and bribe-taking by several politicians, including members of parliament.

The rising public anger over the corruption of such politicians, and the likely arrest and prosecution of these corrupt officials, are widely expected to weaken opposition to and increase support for the transparency bill in parliament.

Several supporters of the bill, including Kitayama Ushio, the wealthy head of the Kitayama financial group, have hailed the recent events, saying that they showcase the need for such increased transparency.

They had also expressed confidence that the transparency bill will be successfully passed in parliament, saying that "members of parliament would no longer be able to ignore public anger" over such crimes as "public support for the bill" surged on the recent events.

That is all for today's morning news.

This is Takahara Kariya and Kirishima Kyouko from the Tokyo News.

(Adapted from the Tokyo News Broadcasting Group's morning news on December 28 2092)

* * *

Year 2092, December 28, Tokyo, Japan, 10 a.m.

(Tatsuya's POV)

As my mobile phone rang, I quickly turned away from my laptop and picked up my phone. Putting it at the right side of my face, I pressed the green call button to answer the call.

"Tatsuya-kun, this is Ushiyama." The caller said.

"Ah, Ushiyama-san. I've been waiting for your call. I was actually starting to get worried that you had forgotten about my offer." I said with a bemused tone.

"There is no way I could forget such an offer, Tatsuya-kun. It's not everyday that you get such an attractive offer from the biological son of the person who unjustly fired you." He stated.

Well, it seems that he still held a grudge against mother.

No matter, if that is to be the bond that binds us together, then so be it.

After all, he has considerable talent in developing CAD hardware.

To give him up would be such a waste.

"So, Ushiyama-san. What is the answer of your friends? Did they accept my offer? More importantly, will you accept my offer?" I asked.

"…"

"Ushiyama-san?"

"Tatsuya-kun, my friends have given their answer to me so that I could convey it to you. Most of them have decided to accept your offer. However, before I accept your offer, I would like to ask you a few questions." Ushiyama said with a careful tone of voice.

"Ask away." I immediately replied.

"There are some things about your offer that strikes me as odd. Firstly, what makes you so sure that you would be able to get the visas required to work in the USNA? After all, we are not talking about just one or two visas, we are talking about over 30 visas! Just how do you plan to get all those visas?" He asked in a harried and confused tone.

"I have contacts within the USNA visa authorities. They had informed me about the USNA's need for more magic engineers, and software and hardware developers. They had also told me that if I could meet a specific quota, and if the skills of those workers that I acquired met their requirements, then they would give me the visas I needed." I explained.

Certainly, it was true that the USNA had faced a shortage of such workers and thus had a dire need for them.

However, I had actually obtained the guarantees from my 'contacts' within the USNA visa authorities via threatening to make public the information regarding their 'indiscretions' (which I had managed to procure during my raids on the major money-laundering sites).

But Ushiyama-san did not need to know that.

"I see. But how can you be sure that the number of visas that you can obtain would be sufficient to provide all of my friends, as well as me and you, with one visa each? After all, I did not tell you the exact number of friends I had who would be receptive to the offer. Neither did I tell you the exact number of my friends who had actually accepted the offer." He pointed out with a suspicious tone.

True.

I had no way of knowing the exact number of his friends that had actually decided to accept the offer.

However, that didn't mean that the number of 'guaranteed' visas that I obtained would be insufficient.

"Certainly, I have no idea of the exact number of your friends that had actually decided to accept my offer. However, I know the number of your friends who had lost a job and would thus be at least partially receptive to my offer. From there, I could make an estimate of the maximum and minimum number of visas I had to prepare." I explained with an impassive tone.

"You had me investigated?!" He hollered out over the phone.

"Of course I did. Didn't you investigate me as well?" I replied back in a calm tone.

"…"

"You were going to meet the biological son of the person who unjustly fired you. Furthermore, this 'son' was someone that you did not know much about and whose intentions were, at least to you at that point in time, suspicious. Surely you would have investigated such a person, if only to gain an advantage over him during your 'conversation' with him?" I pointed out sharply.

"…Fair enough. I won't argue with you on that point. Your answers have been…satisfactory to me so I accept your offer, Tatsuya-kun." He conceded before giving me his answer to my earlier offer.

"Very well. Ushiyama-san, please send me a soft copy of all the resumes of those who intend to accept the offer by 4 pm today. I will look through them and get back to you on them by tomorrow. Oh, and before I forget, please tell them to pack their bags and prepare to leave on the 31st of December." I instructed.

"What?! You want to leave on the 31st of December? Isn't that too early?!" He asked out in shock and surprise.

"While those visas that I could obtain were 'guaranteed' to me, the 'guarantee' will only last for a short while. Leaving so late on the 31st is already pushing it." I explained.

"…I understand. I will inform my friends about it." He replied hesitantly with a hint of displeasure in his tone.

Upon detecting this, I paused for a moment as I pondered over what else I should say.

I would be working with this man for the next few years.

As such, developing good relations with him would be for the best.

However, all of our conversations so far, whether it was in that restaurant or over the phone, had been tense.

That was ultimately counterproductive.

As such, I should immediately proceed to dissipate the tension between us and start developing good relations with him.

"Look Ushiyama-san, I know that this schedule is really tight and it is giving you more pressure, which is certainly something you don't need right now, but please cooperate with me. At the very least, I can promise you that working in the USNA and taking up the jobs that I prepared for both you and your friends would be worth it in the end." I said with an apologetic tone.

For a moment, Ushiyama-san remained silent over the phone before he spoke up again.

"I'm sorry for flaring up just now, Tatsuya-kun. I really appreciate this offer that you have given both me and my friends and I know that making such extensive arrangements for both me and my friends must have been extremely difficult. I will go inform my friends of the preparations that they have to take." He replied with a tired yet sincere tone.

"Very well. I will contact you tomorrow. Goodbye, Ushiyama-san." I stated.

"Goodbye, Tatsuya-kun." He said before he hung up.

As I placed the phone back onto the table, I took a deep breath before letting it out.

Sigh…

Looks like building up a good relationship with him was going to take some time.

* * *

Year 2092, December 28, Restaurant located within an unidentified hotel in Tokyo, Japan, 1 p.m.

(Honoka's POV)

Ah…

Right now I feel like I'm in an incredibly awkward situation.

Currently, I was having lunch with Shizuku-chan and the young boy who saved me. However, that was not the problem. The problem lies in the fact that I'm currently seated between two people who had just, not too long ago, made out in front of me.

One of which was my best friend and the other is the boy who saved me and who I had done morally questionable things with as well.

To say that I was feeling awkward would have been a severe understatement.

We were currently eating in a restaurant within the hotel that we were staying at. We were eating in a private room in the restaurant, reserved by the boy so that less people would see Shizuku-chan's face and thus reducing the possibility that the people who were behind her kidnapping would become aware that she had escaped rather than taken away by another opposing group.

We were on sitting at a square shaped medium-sized table, with Shizuku-chan and him sitting across each other while I sat in between them.

As we were eating, I had remained silent as Shizuku-chan and the young boy made some light conversation involving many topics ranging from what our schools were like, our magic education to the current development of CADs.

They seemed to really get along with each other.

They both had topics in which they could converse with each other about.

They both wore impassive expressions on their faces most of the time, even while they were having a conversation with each other.

Oh…and he was also the 'hero' that saved her from the kidnappers.

They would make a very good couple.

As my thoughts flowed along this direction, my heart started to clench painfully for some reason.

"Honoka, what's wrong?" Shizuku-chan asked.

Apparently, my unusually quiet self was making them suspicious.

"Mitsui Honoka, is something wrong?" The boy inquired.

"No, no. There is nothing wrong!" I answered hurriedly.

Both of them still did not look convinced.

"Perhaps the food is not to your liking?" The boy queried.

"No, the food here is really good! Um…right, why don't you tell both Shizuku-chan and I about what you plan to do after all this is over? The December holidays are soon going to be over so are you planning on going back to school?" I replied hastily to his inquiry before swiftly diverting the topic to something safer and less embarrassing.

"I don't need to go to school." He replied with an amused tone.

This caught both Shizuku-chan's and my attention.

"Huh? Isn't it mandatory for young people in Japan to go to school?" I asked with a confused tone.

"You know, I'm not exactly a normal person…" He trailed off as an amused expression came over his face.

Well, that's true.

No normal person would have been able to, according to Shizuku-chan, "wipe out over 30 people in the blink of an eye" in his bid to save a person (Shizuku-chan).

No normal person would also have been able to penetrate into a hotel bar that was connected with many illegal criminal groups while having the appearance of a young boy.

Finally, no normal person would have been able to have sufficient clout to negotiate directly with Shizuku-chan's father, Kitayama Ushio, the head of one of the most powerful and extensive financial groups in the world. This was something that I had found out during a telephone conversation both Shizuku-chan and I had with Shizuku-chan's father on December 26.

"So then…what do you plan to do after all this over? After all, you don't have to go back to school, right?" I asked.

"I'm planning to go to the USNA for a while to settle some business." He replied.

Both Shizuku-chan and I froze at that statement.

"You're…planning to go overseas?" I let out.

"Why?" Shizuku-chan asked.

I could have been mistaken but it appeared to me that her eyes had a slightly sad expression in them.

"I have recently acquired some properties and assets in the USNA. I need to go over to manage them. I also plan to arrange for some meetings with the Japanese Magician Community there." He replied with a hint of hesitation (?).

"I see." Shizuku-chan said.

"When are you leaving?" I asked hesitantly.

"December 31st." He replied.

!

This time, both Shizuku-chan and I showed alarmed expressions on our faces.

"Wait…didn't you say that you were planning to go overseas only after all this was over?!" I asked (demanded).

"Do not worry. All this will be over by tomorrow." He replied back with an impassive tone, as if his victory was already a foregone conclusion.

"What?!"

This time, it was Shizuku-chan who raised her voice.

"Kitayama Shizuku, you were kidnapped by those criminals so that they could force your father's cooperation. They had wanted to force him to use his large financial group to aid them in their money-laundering operations. However, that was only one of their motives. Their other motive was to force your father to withdraw his support for the politicians try to pass the transparency bill into law in parliament. Now that both of you have been rescued, those criminals no longer hold any leverage over your father. In the parliamentary session tomorrow, the transparency bill will come to a vote and it is widely expected to be passed. If it is passed into law, it will be our victory." He explained calmly, in stark contrast to the sharp tone in which Shizuku-chan's question was asked.

"…"

"…"

Both Shizuku-chan and I could only remain silent at that.

"Kitayama Shizuku, Mitsui Honoka, I have an offer for both of you." He suddenly said.

An offer?

For the both of us?

"What is it?" Shizuku-chan asked with a hint of curiosity in her tone.

"Do you two want to come to the USNA with me?" He asked.

For the second time today, both Shizuku-chan and I froze.

Travel?

To the USNA?!

With him?!

"I have grown fond of the two of you and I would like you two to become my companions. Of course I know that both of you are still young, and that Honoka-chan may not be able to afford it but do not worry. I will pay for your schooling and living expenses. I also have property in the USNA in which you could stay in." He continued.

"So, what do the both of you say? Will the two of you accept my offer?" He asked.

Under normal circumstances, going to the USNA would be very difficult for me.

I lost my parents in a car accident when I was young.

As such, I had lived in an orphanage from a young age.

I do not have the money to pay for such a trip. Furthermore, I doubt that the orphanage would be willing to pay for it either.

However, this boy whom I barely know has offered to pay for my schooling and living expenses over there.

He has even offered me a place to stay in the USNA.

However, could I trust him, could I really trust this young boy whom I barely know anything about?

Ironically, the answer was yes.

Yes, I could trust him.

After all, this was the person who risked his life to save both Shizuku-chan and I from our terrible fates, taking on dangerous criminals who had him outnumbered and outgunned in the process.

Furthermore, this was the person who reunited both Shizuku-chan and I with our 'father'.

Going to study in the USNA, which had more advanced educational facilities for both magic and non-magic related studies, would be a dream come true.

In addition, I could become the companion of the person who saved me from a terrible fate.

Yet, if I went overseas, I would have to leave behind all the friends that I made in school and in the orphanage.

I would have to leave behind uncle and aunty.

But,

if I could just stay by this person's side…

* * *

Year 2092, December 28, Tokyo, Japan, 2 p.m.

(Shizuku's POV)

As the sounds of the shower reverberated throughout the room, I closed my eyes for a moment before opening them again.

Shortly after our lunch, we had returned to the hotel room and Honoka had immediately proceeded to take a shower.

During lunch, that young boy had made an incredibly tempting offer to the two of us.

Honoka had asked the boy for more time to consider his offer but I could tell that she really wanted to accept it.

The only thing stopping her would most likely be the relationships that she had built up over here in Japan.

For me, I already knew what my answer to his offer would be.

"Yes."

was my answer.

It was short and simple.

To say that my answer shocked Honoka would have been an understatement.

However, that boy had asked me to become his companion (along with Honoka) so how could I have refused?

Unlike Honoka, I do not have much friends. My only friend so far was Honoka. Personally, I don't think that my parents would mind it too much since going to the USNA to study would be beneficial for both my magic and non-magic related studies.

As such, I don't really have as much relationships as Honoka that would bind me to this place.

However, there was something that I needed to confirm.

As I slowly approached the boy, who was sitting on the bed, he turned his head towards me to regard me with a curious expression.

Even as I got closer and closer to him, so much so that he was within reaching distance of my arm should I extend it out, I did not stop and continued to approach him.

I then bent down slightly as I pressed my lips against his.

What happened next was a blur.

One moment I was pressing my lips against his while standing up, the next thing I knew I was on the bed, my back pressed against the bed covers as the boy's tongue slipped into mine and started to explore the inside of my mouth.

On instinct, I wrapped my arms around his neck as I pulled him in closer to me. I also let my tongue slip into his mouth, causing him to moan slightly in pleasure as we deepened the kiss.

Soon afterwards, his mouth was tracing a line of kisses down my neck before moving up again. He temporarily stopped at one spot, sucking on it and that caused shivers of pleasure to run down my spine. He then licked on my right earlobe, causing me to moan slightly in pleasure.

As he did so, he had rolled me over such that my back was now to him while his arms wrapped themselves tightly around my waist.

Panting, I asked him breathlessly:

"You mentioned that you wanted both Honoka and I to become your companions. Is this what being a companion means to you?"

"To me, a companion can mean many things, a friend, a comrade, a loyal ally and even a lover. Earlier on, you accepted my offer to go to the USNA and to become my companion. Now, the question I have to ask you is this: As my companion, what do you want to be to me? My friend? My comrade? My loyal ally? My lover?" He replied.

At this reply, I immediately flipped him over such that his back was now pressed against the bed with my body hovering over him.

"My answer to that question should be obvious by now. I want to be all of those. Though what I want most is to become your lover." I said with a passionate (for me, at least) tone.

"Oh,and one more thing." I added as an afterthought.

"What is it?" He asked.

"Call me Shizuku."

Afterwards, I proceeded to devour his mouth.

* * *

Year 2092, December 28, Tokyo, Japan, 2:30 p.m.

(Honoka's POV)

As I was walking out of the bathroom after my shower, I passed by Shizuku-chan who started heading to the bathroom for her own shower.

However, as I was passing by her, her right arm suddenly wrapped itself around the front of my waist as she pulled me closer to her own body.

"Honoka, I know how you feel about that boy. You should start being more honest to yourself." She whispered.

Startled, I turned my head to face her however Shizuku-chan's face moved closer to mine as she whispered one more thing to me.

"Regarding the offer to become his companion, you should make up your mind soon. After all, he is going to be leaving this country soon."

After saying that, she left and made her way into the bathroom.

As the sounds of the shower made its way into my ears, I could only stand there silently, pondering over what she had said.

* * *

Year 2092, December 29, Kitayama mansion in Tokyo, Japan, 8 p.m.

(Tatsuya's POV)

Right now, I was sitting on a plush chair across from Kitayama Ushio, the father of my new companion Kitayama Shizuku.

As both of us sipped our tea in silence, he gazed at me warily before putting his own tea cup down on the table.

As I put my tea cup down as well, I decided to break the silence.

"First of all, let me congratulate you on successfully pushing the bill through parliament and getting it passed into law. For both houses of parliament to agree to it so easily was really quite a surprise." I said.

Kitayama Ushio continued to look at me warily for a moment before he gave his reply.

"Let's drop all the pretences here. Before the bill came to a vote in the Lower house, the successful police raids resulted in the acquisition of much information regarding the corruption of the politicians in Tokyo, including many members of parliament. As a result, many representatives that were against the bill in the Lower House were arrested. As such, the transparency bill was easily approved in the lower house by an overwhelming vote of 300 to 80 or a ratio of 15 to 4, with 10 abstaining from the vote and about 90 representatives arrested. Many councillors in the Upper House were also implicated and then subsequently arrested so the bill was also easily approved in the Upper house as well by an overwhelming margin of 150 'yes' votes to 50 'no votes', with 7 abstaining and 40 councillors arrested." He stated with a hard tone.

"Oh? And what pretence am I taking up here?" I asked impassively.

"Earlier on, before the bill came to a vote in parliament and before the police raids, but after the anti-corruption raids, you called me on December 26 in the evening and told me to just focus on supporting the bill. During that conversation, you even said that the opposition to the bill would significantly weaken before the time to vote on it came. Shortly afterwards, the police launched a series of high-profile raids on criminals sites, acquiring information that would implicate the members of parliament who opposed the bill in the process. And you expect me to believe that all this was just a coincidence?" He asked rhetorically with a sarcastic tone.

"Even if I had planned all of it, which I'm not saying that I did, what does it matter at this point of time? The transparency bill that you wanted parliament to pass into law had been approved, both your 'daughters' are safe, many of your enemies, which include many dangerous criminals and top corrupt government officials and politicians, have been arrested and I have managed to strike a blow against the corrupt ruling establishment." I stated with an impassive tone.

"True, the current situation isn't bad. It is a lot better than the past two weeks when I had to deal with corrupt members of parliament trying to stall or oppose the bill and the situation whereby both of my 'daughters' were kidnapped by some unknown criminal organization." He conceded.

"Then why do you still seem so dissatisfied, Kitayama Ushio?" I asked with confusion evident in my tone.

"I still do not know your true intentions. I'm truly grateful to you for saving both my 'daughters' from those dangerous criminals. I'm also grateful to you for your instrumental role in aiding the passing of the bill in parliament into law, regardless of whether you want to admit your role in it or not. However, like I said, I still do not know your true intentions and that troubles me. Furthermore, my daughter, Shizuku, just told me something very disturbing." He said.

"Oh? And what is this 'disturbing' thing that she just told you about?" I inquired though I could already tell where he was going with this.

"She told me about the offer that you made to both Honoka and her. She also told me that she had accepted your offer and that Honoka was still considering it." He replied with a tense tone.

"I see. As you do not know my true intentions yet, you feel as though you cannot trust me with both your 'daughters'. That is certainly understandable." I said with an understanding tone.

"Exactly." He stated with a sharp tone.

"However, if you cannot trust my words, can you look at my actions and see if you can extend at least a little trust to me?" I asked.

"Oh?"

"Considering my current actions, do you really think that I would harm your 'daughters'? Besides, you should ask yourself this question, wouldn't they be safer in the USNA than in Japan where most if not all of your enemies reside?" I questioned.

"…"

"Based on your current actions, I really don't think that you would harm the two of them. In fact, I agree that they would probably be safer with you in the USNA than with me in Japan. However, as I said earlier, the fact that I do not know your true intentions bothers me." He replied slowly.

"And?"

"I will leave the final decision to my daughters. If they choose to go with you, then so be it." He said.

"Very well." I replied.

Soon afterwards, he stood up from his chair and exited the room through the door.

* * *

Year 2092, December 29, Kitayama mansion's garden in Tokyo, Japan, 8:30 p.m.

As I sat down on a large rock, pondering over all of the things that I would have to do in the USNA, I gazed upon the small pond that was located within the Kitayama mansion's garden.

There were still so many things to do.

So many things to accomplish.

Sigh…

Looks like I am going to be quite busy for the next two to three years.

BOOM!

The sound of an explosion resounded around the area.

I quickly turned my head around, only to see that a fire had already started in one of the rooms of the large mansion. I quickly used my 'sight' to read and analyse the information structures of the 'objects' around me, trying to figure out what had happened as well as what the current situation was like.

What I say made me grimace.

The explosion had taken place in one of the bedrooms of the mansion. This bedroom was quite large and it most likely was the master bedroom. Based on the current states of the information structures of the 'objects' in that room, I could tell that the room itself was heavily damaged, the furniture itself was almost completely destroyed and a fire had already started burning in that room. However, that was not the worst of it.

Using my 'sight', I could definitely tell.

Kitayama Ushio and his wife were already dead,

their body blown up to pieces.

Now, they were beyond saving, even with my power.

My power would allow me to reconstruct their bodies' information structures, thus making it seem as though their bodies were never injured or blown up to pieces in the first place.

However, my power could not bring back the dead, or to be more exact, the souls of the dead.

Even if I 'reconstructed' their bodies, those bodies would be soulless. They would be breathing but they would be without thought, without emotion and without a soul.

Such a fate would undeniably be tragic for them.

After all, even I, who lost many of my 'urges', was able to think.

More importantly, I still had a soul.

To use my power to save them, or to be more specific, to save their bodies would condemn them to a tragic fate.

That was not something that I wanted to do.

In that case, I should be focusing on figuring out the current situation as well as to ascertain the safety of Kitayama Shizuku and Mitsui Honoka.

Using my 'sight' to read the information structures of the 'objects' in my surroundings, I detected three groups of masked men, armed with guns and explosives, making their way into the mansion grounds via the front, side and back entrances.

I could also detect that Kitayama Shizuku and Mitsui Honoka were surrounded by a group of people, all armed. However, this group of armed people were not facing the two girls, instead they seemed to be facing away from them.

Those must be the bodyguards and servants of the Kitayama family.

The current location of the two girls was near the side entrance.

The side entrance group consisted of 20 armed men.

The front entrance group consisted of 40 armed men.

The back entrance group consisted of 30 armed men.

Most of the bodyguards and servants appeared to be fighting off the armed attackers at the front and back entrance, with the rest protecting the two girls.

So, it seems that the side entrance group had not been detected by anyone yet.

Using my 'sight', I could quickly determine why.

The road from the side entrance to the mansion had relatively fewer cameras.

Furthermore, the side entrance did not have any human constructs but instead appears to be covered with trees and other plants.

Most likely the family had gone out of the house via that makeshift 'entrance' and 'exit' that they eventually decided to clear some of the trees and plants away, making it an actual entrance. Though it must have been done just recently given that there were much fewer cameras there compared to the other entrances.

The front and back entrance groups were just decoys, meant to distract the security personnel of the mansion from the side entrance group that was secretly making its way through the mansion grounds.

In that case, the side entrance group would be the one that posed the most danger to those two girls.

Using my 'sight', I read and analysed the information structures of the air particles around my body, or to be exact around my long black jacket, pants and combat boots.

I then used my natural decomposition magic to decompose these information structures directly into energy.

I also used my natural decomposition magic to decompose the information structure of the event of gravitational force being applied on me, thus temporarily freeing myself from the constraints imposed on me by gravity.

The energy released propelled me upwards into the sky.

As I 'flew' towards the side entrance, I noticed the side entrance group quickly making their way across the mansion grounds, silently yet stealthily.

My right arm shot out towards them as I released a large ball of silver flames at them. As the large fireball approached the ground at an incredible speed, the attackers tried to move out of the way. However, that ultimately proved futile since even before the large fireball touched the ground, it 'exploded', releasing a large number of smaller fireballs at them.

Once the smaller fireballs hit the attackers, the silver flames of decomposition quickly spread around their entire bodies, decomposing the very information structures of their bodies, thus causing their bodies to fade into non-existence.

However, as this process was being carried out, it appears that about four attackers had managed to successfully escape the onslaught. They immediately fired their weapons at me but it was futile. The moment the bullets 'touched' me, they were immediately decomposed, courtesy of my natural decomposition magic.

I extended my right arm towards them again and this time, a large 'beam' of silver flames flew towards them, quickly hitting and then engulfing them one by one. Soon after, their bodies faded into non-existence.

Now that the side entrance group was dealt with, I could focus on clearing out the other two groups.

The back entrance group was steadily making gains while the front entrance group was slowly getting pushed back.

I quickly 'flew' towards the back entrance.

As I approached the back entrance, I could see servants and attackers alike looking upwards at me in shock, awe and even fear.

Ignoring them, I continued 'flying' until I was on top of the enemy's formation. I quickly descended to the ground.

During the few seconds that I was descending, I used my 'sight' to read and analyse the information structures of the weapons that the attackers held.

As I was descending, the attackers had already started spraying me with bullets and firing explosives at me. However, it was ultimately futile as my natural decomposition magic caused every bullet, every explosive and every projectile that was thrown at or fired at me to fade into nothingness the moment that they 'touched' my body.

Then, the moment my feet touched the ground, I used my natural decomposition magic to decompose a very small part of each of those weapons directly into energy.

The energy released caused the weapons to explode and the shrapnel flew out in all directions, cutting into the flesh of all the attackers present.

As the attackers fell to the ground, dead or at least heavily injured, I strode forward towards the servants and bodyguards of the Kitayama family.

Upon seeing me approach them, they backed away in fear before they quickly regained their wits and pointed their weapons at me.

"Calm down. I'm on your side. Remember, I'm the guest that your master, Kitayama Ushio, invited over for today." I said as I raised my hand at them, in an attempt to calm them down.

They continued looking at me warily for a moment before looks of recognition appeared on their faces as they slowly lowered their weapons.

"Quickly secure the perimeter around here. The fight is not over yet." I ordered before I 'flew' off, ignoring the stares that they directed at me out of confusion, fear and awe.

As I 'flew' into the sky, I quickly assessed what had happened so far.

I had already wiped out the side entrance group so that was about 20 attackers killed at the side entrance.

By the time I reached the back entrance, 8 of the attackers from the back entrance group had died and I had wiped out the remaining 22 members.

Then, the last group remaining was the front entrance group.

Quickly using my 'sight' to assess the situation, I discovered something shocking.

The front entrance group had somehow made a comeback, penetrating through the front entrance defences and they had already reached the group of bodyguards that was protecting the two girls.

The front entrance group had taken a lot of damage.

Eighteen of their members' bodies lay on the mansion grounds, dead, while four more of their members' dead bodies were lying at the location where the two girls were.

However, there was still a total 18 attackers left.

Hence, while the attackers were severely reduced in numbers, they still remained a formidable threat to the safety of the two girls.

Most of the bodyguards had already fallen by now and only a few were left standing.

It was only a matter of time before the two girls were captured, or worse, killed.

Upon realizing this, I immediately 'flew' towards them, extending my silver-white 'wings' outwards in the process.

* * *

Year 2092, December 29, Kitayama mansion's garden in Tokyo, Japan, 9 p.m.

(Shizuku's POV)

The sounds of gunfire resounded throughout the room as the bullets pierced through the walls, the furniture and the flesh of people.

As the last of our bodyguards fell, I protectively pulled Honoka to my chest, hoping to at least shield her from the incoming bullets.

However, just as the guns were turned onto us, the ceiling collapsed.

As the ceiling collapsed, crushing the bodies of a few of the attackers in the process, an angel emerged from the dust.

With silver-white 'wings' and beautiful silver eyes, what else could you use to describe that person aside from the term 'angel'?

As the attackers started firing at the angel, the angel simply raised one hand and all the bullets disappeared.

He then shouted:

"Kitayama Shizuku, Mitsui Honoka, get down!"

As I crouched down, pulling Honoka to the ground in the process, the angel simply snapped his fingers and all the bullets, explosives and projectiles being fired at or thrown at him simply disappeared along with the assault rifles of the attackers.

The angel then extended his silver-white 'wings' and spun around once, the large 'wings' hitting and then passing through several of the attackers' bodies.

As the large 'wings' hit and then passed through the attackers, the attackers bodies disappeared, as if they never existed in the first place.

Now, there were about only five attackers left and they looked on at the angel with fear in their eys.

"Monster!" One of them shouted as all of them took out their combat knives and charged at the angel.

The angel merely extended his left hand towards the attackers and soon after, small explosions of energy occurred at the front torso of two attackers, causing their upper bodies to be blown apart.

As he did this, he extended his right hand to the side and a silver-white 'blade' of light extended from the front of his right wrist.

One of the remaining three attackers continued to charge at him, swinging his combat knife downwards towards the angel however the angel merely crossed blades with him.

The attacker's blade was sliced through and as the attacker paused for a moment in shock, the angel had already made his way behind him and slashed at the back of the attacker's neck.

The attacker then collapsed onto the ground, with blood seeping out from his neck.

The other two attackers charged at him, each trying to outflank him on one side. As one of the attackers slashed at him, the angel simply moved to the right, dodging the blow, before he kicked that attacker towards his comrade. The two attackers collided with each other and the angel took this opportunity to charge at them.

As the two attackers tried to get out of each other's way, the angel had already reached them. The angel's silver-white 'blade' of light had slashed through one of the arms of the attackers, causing the attacker to scream in pain before the angel plunged his 'blade' of light through the attacker's neck, permanently silencing him.

The other attacker swung his knife at him with a horizontal slash, full of fury. However, the angel merely backhanded the attacker's knife holding hand. The last remaining attacker then shot his right foot forward, which the angel dodged by moving to the side. Seeing as the angel was closing in on him, the attacker launched his left fist at the angel, hoping to at least stop him in his tracks, seeing as victory seemed impossible.

However, that was not to be as the angel simply sliced through the attacker's left fist. As the attacker bent forward and howled out in pain, the angel moved forward and impaled his 'blade' into the head of the attacker.

Withdrawing his blade from the attacker's head, the angel stood there silently as the attacker's body fell to the ground, dead.

His silver-white 'wings' and his silver-white 'blade' of light contained not even a single speck of blood, despite all the lives they had taken.

His silver-white 'wings' hanging majestically from his back and his beautiful silver-white 'blade' of light at his side, the angel turned around to regard Honoka and me with a look of concern.

At this sight, I could only murmur out one thing.

"Tatsuya-kun?"

* * *

Well, that's that! Chapter 5 is finally done! Please review!


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6: Departure

Disclaimer: I do not own Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei or any of its vibrant characters.

* * *

Year 2092, December 30, Unidentified Hotel in Tokyo, Japan, 2 a.m.

(Tatsuya's POV)

As I sat down on a chair, facing my laptop, I scanned through my account statements to monitor my progress. I have finally managed to acquire all of the assets and property that I needed to have in the USNA, the European Union and Turkey.

It really was quite amazing.

In modern times, the sale and purchase of assets can be done with just a click of the mouse.

Certainly, in the past, financial securities such as stocks and bonds could also be purchased and sold in such a manner. However, in modern times, this manner of trading was no longer limited to just financial securities. Now, property, liquor, art, insurance, structured products could also be bought and sold in such an easy manner as long as you have enough money and the 'all-purpose' trading account.

The 'all-purpose' trading account is a business concept developed by the financial industry in the late 2050s. It was a concept that specified that trading accounts should no longer be limited to just financial securities but to all manners of legal assets like property.

It was because of the development and adoption of this concept by the financial industry that I was able to complete my asset purchases so quickly.

Furthermore, now that I managed to acquire the key personnel I need, which includes Ushiyama-san and his friends, almost all the preparations are complete for my overseas journey.

Unfortunately, with the completion of my work and thus with the thoughts of work put behind me, memories of what happened earlier in the Kitayama mansion ran through my mind.

A knock on the door interrupted my thoughts and I quickly stood up. Closing my laptop and putting it into the bag, I made my way to the door. I quickly opened it and was greeted with the sight of a black-haired man with broad shoulders and a leaner, brown-haired man.

"Captain Kazama, Lieutenant Sanada, please come in." I said politely as I moved out of the way.

As they entered the hotel room, I closed the door and started to prepare some green tea.

Placing the tea cups on the table, I sat down on the chair and faced them.

An awkward (?) yet strangely tense silence ensued as we continued to stare at each other.

Coughing slightly, I broke the silence and proceeded to speak.

"Captain Kazama, have you settled the matter that we discussed earlier on the phone?" I asked politely.

"…Yes, I did. My police allies in Tokyo have already rounded up all of the criminals and corrupt politicians. Among the corrupt politicians that we arrested, we found out that a few of them had conspired to kill the Kitayama family head, his wife and his daughter." He replied curtly.

"I see. So it was just as I had suspected. Those attackers' intention had been to kill those three targets from the very beginning. Tell me, Captain Kazama, have you found out their motive for doing so?" I enquired as I placed my two hands together, my fingers tapping against each other.

"When we were rounding up the last few corrupt officials, we had also searched their offices and houses as well. During this process, we managed to acquire a lot of information on their illegal activities. That was how we found out the identity of the conspirators. As we continued to look through the information that we collected, we discovered that those corrupt politicians had contact with some members of the Kitayama family from the phone logs and emails." He stated.

"I see. So you suspect that some members of the Kitayama family had participated in this conspiracy?" I asked.

Surprisingly, it was not Captain Kazama who answered. Instead, it was Lieutenant Sanada.

"Tatsuya-kun, according to those emails they were sending to each other, we discovered plans by some members of the Kitayama family to sell the Kitayama financial group to those corrupt politicians at an extremely attractive price. Most likely, those corrupt politicians were planning to acquire the financial group so as to ease the difficulty of their money-laundering activities, especially now that the transparency bill has been passed. Well, even though I said that the price that was offered to those corrupt officials was extremely attractive, the price actually wasn't cheap. In fact, the price was quite high but that is only to be expected since we're talking about the price for a large, international financial group. However, as the Kitayama financial group's majority shareholder was Kitayama Ushio at that point of time, those family members should not have had the authority to make such a decision. Not unless…" Lieutenant Sanada answered hesitantly.

"…Kitayama Ushio, his wife and the legal heir, Kitayama Shizuku, dies. In that case, the shares that Kitayama Ushio owned would automatically be passed into their hands." I finished.

"Yes." Lieutenant Sanada confirmed.

"In other words, the deaths of the three targets were essential to their plans. However, the conspirators also wanted to avoid responsibility should they fail to kill the three targets so they hired those thugs to do the job for them. Most likely, those thugs didn't even know who they were working for but they were certainly well-armed, not surprising given how wealthy their 'employers' were." I inferred.

"We are currently making preparations to arrest the Kitayama family members who participated in that conspiracy." Captain Kazama said.

"Captain Kazama, Lieutenant Sanada, with the recent purging of the anti-corruption task force and the police, and the recent successful arrests of scores of corrupt politicians and criminals, am I correct in assuming that your police allies have managed to establish their dominance over these two respective forces in Tokyo?" I queried.

"…Yes, you are correct. But why are you asking this for, Tatsuya-kun? After all, establishing dominance over those two forces in Tokyo was one of the objectives of those purges and raids in the first place." Lieutenant Sanada answered with a confused tone.

"Hmm…if possible, can you delay their arrest until later tonight? Also, can you tell your police allies not to publicly announce the names of the corrupt politicians who were involved in the conspiracy until tomorrow morning?" I requested politely.

My requests earned confused looks from the two men in front of me.

"Why would you want such a thing, Tatsuya-kun?" Captain Kazama asked with a confused tone.

"Just trust me." I replied curtly before continuing.

"I have a plan."

* * *

Year 2092, December 30, Unidentified Hotel in Tokyo, Japan, 5 p.m.

(Shizuku's POV)

"You seem to be holding up pretty well, Kitayama Shizuku." A familiar voice said.

As I turned around to face the young boy, I was surprised when I saw him wearing a different outfit than the one that he usually wore.

Well, it wasn't that different.

His new outfit still consisted of a long black jacket, a pair of long black pants and a black shirt. Yet, somehow it seemed…different. His long black jacket and long black pants appeared to be slightly thicker than usual. The same also applied to his black combat boots.

Seeing that he was looking at me with a confused expression on his face, I had probably been silent for a while now. Quickly gathering my wits together, I managed to answer him in my normal, emotionless tone.

"Yes, I'm fine. I…have already accepted my parents' death. Well, I'll admit that I'm still a little shaken by what had happened though." I stated.

Well, I did accept my parents' death but I still hadn't fully moved past it yet. I felt strong emotions like hate, anger and sadness all swirling around in my heart. Hatred for the ones who had done this to my family, anger at my own failure to prevent it and sadness at the loss of my parents.

"I see…What about Mitsui Honoka? How is she doing?" He asked as he motioned towards Honoka who was currently lying on the bed, asleep.

"She cried for a few hours before she fell asleep…Honoka was very close to my parents." I replied monotonously.

"Given the current state of affairs, I'm not sure if we can consider this as good news but I just got a report from my allies." He said hesitantly, which was a rare thing for him.

However, right now such a thing did not concern me. Instead, I was more interested in this 'report' that he received from his allies.

"The ones who attacked your family were only pawns. While those thugs are currently dead, having faced their end either by my hand or those of the Kitayama family's servants and bodyguards, they were ultimately not the ones who masterminded the whole attack." He stated with a curt tone.

"…"

"I see. Is that all?" I asked.

"No, it isn't." He replied quickly before continuing.

"We have discovered the identity of those who masterminded the entire attack. Some of them have already been arrested. The rest are going to be arrested later tonight in a raid."

I froze after hearing this statement.

As I processed this statement in my head, my fists started to clench tightly as my body started to tremble in rage (?).

"I can let you watch the operation. I can let you see how this ends. I can give you closure." He said, emphasizing heavily on the last word.

Upon hearing his words, my breath hitched.

I trembled for a moment longer before the shaking stopped.

"Please…let me watch the operation." I requested as I bowed my head towards him.

"Very well. However, Kitayama Shizuku, you still haven't fully moved on yet. You still feel rage, anger, hatred and bloodlust towards your parents' murderers. You also feel…lonely. I sincerely hope that watching this… operation will let you find some closure. However, watching this operation will not alleviate your loneliness." He said in a slightly sympathetic tone.

"Even so, watching this operation will give me some closure. I will take what I can get." I replied immediately, without a single shred of hesitation.

"I understand. However, let me ease your loneliness, even if it is only by a bit." He stated.

His right hand then extended towards me and it lightly held onto the back of my head.

Using his right hand, he pulled me in closer to him as his lips met mine.

At first, it started out slow and gentle. As if he was trying to comfort me with this kiss alone.

Then, it started to get rougher, more aggressive, more passionate.

His tongue slipped into my mouth and mine slipped into his.

Our tongues started to fervently explore the insides of our mouths as they tangled together restlessly.

He then wrapped one arm around my legs and the other around my back as he carried me bridal-style into the bathroom.

Once I entered the bathroom, he proceeded to kiss me even more deeply than before as he shut the door behind him. As he sat me down on the basin, he started to leave a trail of kisses on my neck as his hands started to unbutton my shirt.

"Don't worry. I will not go all the way." He reassured me.

With my shirt undone, he started to take it off before laying a trail of kisses down my back.

He then licked my earlobe before whispering to me.

"But I will get tantalizingly close."

Shortly afterwards, he gave me such indescribable pleasure that, needless to say, left me a shaking mess.

* * *

Year 2092, December 30, Unknown restaurant in Tokyo, Japan, 8:30 p.m.

(Tatsuya's POV)

As I sat in the private room of the restaurant that I reserved for the meal, I waited patiently for my guests to arrive.

Soon enough, a group of men and women, all dressed professionally, entered the room.

However, the way they entered the room was slightly different from what you would expect from these professional businessmen and businesswomen. After all, they entered in a rather hurried manner, almost to the point of being undignified.

There were some beads of sweat hanging from the men's faces while the women managed to at least keep their faces sweat-free, perhaps so as to avoid ruining their make-up.

However, while their faces were sweat-free, one sign of the women's hurried manner, other than their hurried manner in entering the room, was the fact that their make-up seemed to be hastily, and in some cases, badly done.

Certainly, while I was no make-up expert, having lived with 'mother' (who had to apply make-up for her business functions and events) for a while, I could at least tell that their make-up should at least have been done better unless they were in a hurry.

As they went to sit down even before I offered the chairs for them to sit on, I resisted the urge to shake my head at their actions.

Seriously, for a group of people who were involved in business and thus should have liked to keep up a professional image, they were horrible in hiding their nervousness and haste.

Once they were done sitting, I stood up to greet them.

"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen of the Kitayama family. I'm Taurus Silver, the person who scheduled this meeting with all of you." I said as I bowed to them politely.

After my greeting, a murmur of confused voices broke out.

"Wait, what?"

"He's Taurus Silver? He's just a kid!"

"This has got to be a joke or something."

"Damn it, I don't have the time for such jokes!"

Sigh…

Well, something like that was to be expected.

I was only thirteen, after all.

"I assure you, I'm Taurus Silver, the person who contacted all of you for this meeting regarding the acquisition of your shares in the Kitayama financial group. If you really want to confirm that I'm indeed that person, please read these documents that I'm about to give to all of you." I said with a slightly resigned tone.

At the mention of the acquisition of their shares in the Kitayama financial group, they jumped. After all, no one except them, their conspirators and I should know about the fact that they planned to unload their shares.

I then took out a stack of documents from my bag and proceeded to make my way around the table, giving out the specific documents relating to the specific Kitayama family member as I passed them.

"Wha-!"

"This is!"

"How?!"

were the only sounds that came from them.

Well, it wasn't surprising.

After all, those documents contained information regarding the exact number of shares of the Kitayama financial group that they each owned, the exact percentage of shares they each owned with respect to the total number of shares of the company, their positions in the firm and a list of all the achievements and failures that they had while working in those positions.

"How the hell did you get this information?! Are you saying that you had us investigated?!" One of the men demanded as he slammed his hand on the table.

However, even though he did that, I didn't flinch at all.

Instead, I merely looked at him calmly.

Seeing that he had lost his temper at a young boy, and in front of his own family members, the man flushed in embarrassment as he slowly sat down.

"Of course I had to have all of you investigated. How else would I have presented this information to you?" I replied with a matter of fact tone.

"And why would you need to show us this information?" The man asked.

"I had to show all of you what I was capable of. How else would I have been able to convince all of you that I was Taurus Silver? How else would I have been able to convince all of you to make a deal with me?" I shot back.

A tense silence enveloped the room as they stared at me and I stared back at them.

Eventually, the man from earlier broke the silence as he spoke.

"Alright, I think that there is no doubt that you are Taurus Silver. However, what I'm more interested in is whether or not you have enough money to make a deal with us."

"The 'all-purpose' trading account has a function for private, non-market transactions. The only thing that all of you have to do is to log into your accounts and connect with me using the 'private deal' function to see if I have enough money or not." I replied curtly.

I then took out my mobile terminal and logged into my account. Seeing that I was logging into my account with apparent confidence, the men and women gathered here started to log into their own accounts as well.

After we connected our accounts via the 'private deal' function, their eyes bulged out as they saw the large amount of money that I was offering.

Again, a series of murmurs broke out.

"What the?!"

"For him to have this much money-"

I sighed again

You guys do realize that you just admitted to the fact that I was Taurus Silver, the person you were going to make a deal with, right?

In that case, the fact that I have this much money shouldn't have been that much of a surprise to all of you.

Well, it's not like I couldn't see where they were coming from…

After all, no one would usually expect a young boy to actually possess this much money.

"So, do we have a deal?" I asked.

"…"

"…"

"Wait." The man called out.

"Oh, is something wrong?" I asked.

"The price that you are offering…it's too low." He stated.

"Hmm…I believe that the price I'm offering is above the current market price." I replied.

At this statement, both the men and women grimaced.

In 2091, stock markets around the world collapsed. Japan's stock market was no exception. As Japan's stock market collapsed, so too did the share price of the Kitayama financial group. Due to the stock market crisis, the market price of a single share in the Kitayama financial group fell from 8000 yen, or 100 USNA dollars to 4160 yen, or 52 USNA dollars. Then, during the recent scandal in Japan's financial industry, whereby many top executives working in the industry as well as many corrupt politicians were arrested for abuse of power, corruption, embezzlement and money-laundering, the prices of shares of almost all the companies in the financial industry fell even further, including that of the Kitayama financial group, even though none of the arrested criminals had any links to the company. As such, the market price of a single share in the Kitayama financial group fell even further from 4160 yen to 2400 yen, or 52 USNA dollars to 30 USNA dollars. Finally, the recent death of the Kitayama financial head and the lack of a suitable heir to assume leadership of the firm caused the market price of a single share to fall to 1280 yen, or 16 USNA dollars.

The current price per share that I was offering to buy at was 1440 yen, or 18 USNA dollars, which was certainly higher than the market price right now.

"Still…this kind of price is-" He started but I cut him off.

"I could always get a lower price on the market." I said curtly.

"Yes, you could. However, even if you buy up all the shares in the market, you would only have a 10% stake in the company." The man shot back.

"True but all of you seem to be in a hurry. Perhaps, there is something wrong?" I asked sharply.

Upon hearing my question and the statement before that, they all stiffened slightly.

The man was the first to recover his composure.

"There is nothing wrong, Taurus-san." He stated with a firm tone and his back straight.

"Really? Then the fact that all of you have bought tickets for a 12 a.m. flight tonight to the USNA has nothing to do with the deal we are making? Perhaps you are trying to unload all the shares you have so as to get whatever money you can before fleeing the country?" I asked with a sharp tone.

The man immediately stood up as he hollered.

"That is a serious accusation to make, young man!" He yelled.

"Yet, you are not denying it. Of course, if you do want to deny it, I can always show you the sales record of the airline company you bought the tickets from. Tokyo International Airlines was it?" I stated with my eyes narrowed at them suspiciously.

At the mention of the name of the exact airline company they bought the tickets from, they all froze and the man slowly sat back down, shocked.

"For all of you to suddenly want to go to the USNA together, so soon after your family head, Kitayama Ushio, died, is very suspicious." I stated.

"W-We…um…we had scheduled for the trip long before his death occurred. We also spent a great deal of money on those tickets so we can't just waste them." The man stuttered as he tried to make an excuse that would justify their suspicious behaviour.

"You're lying." I replied sharply.

At this reply, he jumped slightly.

I then took out a document and started flipping through it before I finally got to the page that I wanted.

"According to these sales records, all of you purchased these tickets separately around the time of 5 to 6 am in the morning of December 30, in other words, today. That time period was certainly after the time when Kitayama Ushio's death and that of his wife was made known. Furthermore, while the price of a single ticket to the USNA can be quite expensive, that is only true for those in the middle-class or lower. All of you here are wealthy individuals in their own right so the 'great deal of money' that all of you spent is actually peanuts to all of you." I stated.

After my explanation, they all remained silent, glancing worriedly at each other as if they were having some kind of silent conversation with each other just by looking at each other's eyes.

"…What do you want?" The man finally asked with a resigned tone.

"1440 yen per share. Take it or leave it." I said ruthlessly.

"…"

"We'll take it." The man said as he conceded defeat.

"But Takashi-san!"

"Wait! Are you really going to accept such a ridiculous deal like this?!"

"Yeah, I know that the price he is offering to buy at is above the market price but still!"

were the chorus of stinging voices that came after the man conceded defeat.

"We have no choice!" The man snapped.

"…"  
"Right now, we need this money! Why else would we be making such an important deal with this kid?!" The man snapped.

At this, the room was once again engulfed in a tense silence as the other family members processed what he had just said.

Still…

To call me a kid…

Well, technically he was right.

But in that case, that meant that he was just out-witted by a kid.

Well, regardless, such concerns were irrelevant right now.

What matters to me right now is that we complete the deal we just made.

"Then, Takashi-san…" I said as I sent the deal information to all their accounts.

"Very well. Let's proceed." He replied as he clicked the 'accept' option in his account.

Upon seeing their leader accept the deal that we just made, they all followed in his lead and clicked 'accept' as well.

"Well then, shall we have some dinner, members of the Kitayama family?" I asked as a slight smile made its way onto my face.

* * *

Year 2092, December 30, Tokyo, Japan, 10 p.m.

Everything had gone according to plan.

Kitayama Ushio had owned a 20% stake in the company, the Kitayama financial group.

Only 10% of the total amount of shares were being traded on the market.

The relatives whom I had just met had owned the remaining 70% stake of the company.

Of course, this meant that if those relatives wanted to sell the company to those corrupt politicians, they would have been able to outvote the other shareholders like Kitayama Ushio and completed the deal.

However, such an action will likely trigger lawsuits from the other shareholders, including from Kitayama Ushio himself, especially the price that those relatives had been offering to those corrupt politicians was extremely attractive and below the value of the true worth of the company.

Such lawsuits, especially from Kitayama Ushio himself, would pose the danger of revealing the backroom dealings between them and the corrupt politicians as both the court and Kitayama Ushio himself would certainly investigate them.

In addition, this might break up the unity among these relatives. While all of their stakes collectively made up a majority of 70% of all shares of the company, each of them had less than a 20% stake. Hence, should anyone defect to Kitayama Ushio, the actual majority shareholder, their plan would fail.

That meant that they would have to get rid of Kitayama Ushio, his wife and his heir-apparent, Kitayama Shizuku, so as to inherit their stake of the company, eliminate the possibility of a potentially damaging lawsuit from Kitayama Ushio himself, prevent defection among their members and with a 90% stake in the company as well as the wealth of the Kitayama family behind them, suppress any trouble from the other minority shareholders.

This would then allow them to sell the company to those corrupt politicians.

However, the fact that the heir-apparent, Kitayama Shizuku, was still alive had spoiled their plans. Furthermore, given that they had suddenly lost contact with the corrupt politicians who had been their co-conspirators for some 'unknown' reason, this had sent them into a panic as they most likely had wondered about whether their fellow co-conspirators had been arrested or had abandoned them.

In both cases, they would eventually be tracked down, investigated and then arrested.

Therefore, they made the decision to flee the country.

However, to maintain their lives of comfort, they would need money, a lot of it.

They also couldn't just hold onto the shares and wait for its dividends since all their assets in Japan, including those shares, would eventually have been confiscated by the police the moment that they were found out.

Hence, they had to unload all their shares.

However, unloading all of their shares in the market, even if it was only done so slowly, would have sent the share price spiralling downwards given the current bear market, the recent financial industry scandal and the death of the head of the firm (which was, admittedly, their fault).

This would have greatly reduced the amount of money that they could earn.

At this point in time, I would come in and offer to buy up all of their shares from them at a price that was above the current market level. And to apply a little more pressure on them, I would willingly divulge some of my own information regarding their current dire situation and the fact that they desperately needed some money right now.

Finally, I will give them an ultimatum, stating that I would not compromise on the price I had set.

As expected, they folded.

After all, their leader, Kitayama Takashi, was, according to my own research, the type of person who could not really keep calm, especially in a dire situation.

Faced with an informational disadvantage with regards to the other side in the negotiations, a desperate need for cash, the possibility of having been abandoned by their co-conspirators (whether willingly or not), and a dire future whereby the Tokyo police would be coming after them, he quickly took the deal after offering some (meek, at least to me) resistance.

Now, I was the owner of a 70% stake of the large and international Kitayama financial group. All for the price of 100.8 billion yen, or 1.26 billion USNA dollars, which was quite cheap considering that the actual worth of such a stake was about 448 billion yen, or 5.6 billion USNA dollars.

In addition, with a majority 70% stake, I could now effectively take control of management whenever I deem fit.

I could now give the position of head to Kitayama Shizuku.

At the very least, this would help to secure her future.

"Hmm…they must be in quite a panic right now, those people…" I mused.

* * *

Year 2092, December 30, Tokyo, Japan, 10:05 p.m.

(Kitayama Takashi's POV)

No.

It can't be.

This place is…empty?

Why?

Were we betrayed?!

"Damn it!" I snarled in anger as my fist slammed against the concrete wall of the warehouse that we were in.

"Where are they?!" I yelled in fury.

Those damn money-launderers!

Where did they go?!

This was supposed to be their money-laundering site!

The last major money-laundering site in Tokyo.

Even after the abrupt disappearance of almost all the major money-laundering sites in Tokyo during the recent gang war, this one, this last site, still remained.

And that was saying a lot given that at least 80% of all major money laundering sites in Japan was concentrated in Tokyo, the financial capital of Japan.

Yet, now!

Now of all times!

Not only were the money-launderers all gone, even their equipment as well.

"Takashi-san! We have to go now! We can always 'clean' the money once we get to the USNA! If we do it immediately after we reach the USNA, we should be able to pull it off and keep the money!" One of my relatives urged me.

Damn it!  
Why did this have to happen now?!

If only Kitayama Shizuku died, just like her parents!

If only we weren't abandoned by those damn politicians!

If only the money-launderers that we were supposed to meet didn't disappear on us?!

* * *

(What actually happened)

Year 2092, December 30, Tokyo, Japan, 6:45 p.m.

(Tatsuya's POV)

As I walked towards the warehouse that was located along an industrial street, I used my 'sight' to read and analyse the information structures of the 'objects' around me.

50 look-outs, all of them armed with at least a handgun.

100 guards in the warehouse, all of them fully armed with an assault rifle, explosives like a grenade, handguns and combat knives.

50 men typing on their computers and laptops as they carried out their money-laundering activities.

However, they all carried a handgun as well.

Total number of targets to eliminate: 200

Two floors in the warehouse.

Two entrances, the front entrance and the back entrance.

Both of which were heavily guarded.

No cameras.

Abandoned and empty crates strategically positioned to provide cover in case of a gun fight or an attack that involved bullets and explosives.

60 fully armed guards along with 50 lightly armed men typing on the computers on the first floor.

40 fully armed guards positioned on the top floor, most likely to provide cover fire or sniper support in the case of an attack, using the higher ground as an advantage.

Usually, I would just decompose all of them immediately as it was the most efficient way of accomplishing my objective.

However, I would not be doing that today.

Today, I had to try out my new tactics.

As I continued walking towards my destination, I could notice the gaze of all the 'on-lookers' resting on me.

Pausing in my movements, I merely turned around and gave them a disarming smile, the kind that you would see on an ordinary child.

As they stopped moving, shocked by my sudden action (smile), I merely raised my right hand and decomposed them in the blink of an eye.

I then continued on my journey to the warehouse.

The design of the security layout was really quite brilliant.

As this street was actually an industrial street, the criminals had their look-outs dressed as warehouse workers so as to avoid suspicion. In addition, these 'warehouse workers' were made to perform tasks like using cranes to lift crates so as to add to the impression that they were just a group of ordinary warehouse workers.

Furthermore, the 'company' that bought this warehouse had actually bought the surrounding warehouses so as to keep out unwanted visitors while giving their own look-outs official locations where they worked.

Of course, when I decomposed the 'on-lookers', I decomposed those 'workers' in the surrounding warehouses as well.

This way, those criminals would not have any back-up coming to their aid.

As I entered the warehouse, I was greeted with a hail of bullets.

Using empty, abandoned crates as cover, the money-launderers fired upon me from both floors.

The criminals firing at me from the top floor attempted to use their height advantage against me as they tried to pin me down and kill me.

The criminals firing on me from the first floor quickly maneuvered themselves as they tried to out-flank me on both sides, counting on their comrades on the second-floor to pin me down at one spot.

However, all of these efforts were ultimately futile.

Every single time a bullet, an explosive or even shrapnel 'hit' my body, they would be immediately decomposed, courtesy of my natural decomposition magic.

I raised my right hand and extended it towards the criminals on the first floor.

As I did so, I used my 'sight' to read and analyse the information structures of their bodies and weapons. I then swung my right hand to the side in an arc, decomposing not just their weapons but also a very small component of the lower parts of their sternums directly into energy.

The resulting energy released caused the inside of the upper torsos of the first floor attackers to implode.

As the energy released was not sufficient to completely destroy their entire upper torsos, the outer appearances of their upper torsos remained intact. However, the inside of their upper torsos were almost completely destroyed, including their hearts, their ribs, their lungs and their diaphragms.

The bodies of the first floor attackers then collapsed to ground as blood started to seep out of their mouths.

Current situation:

50 lookouts dead.

60 fully armed guards dead.

50 lightly armed criminals that were carrying out money-laundering activities dead.

Total number of targets dead: 160

Total number of targets remaining: 40

As the guards on the second floor temporarily stopped firing at me out of shock, I quickly raised my right hand up before snapping my fingers.

* * *

In physics, one would learn that light did not travel in just one direction.

Light travels in all possible directions and via all possible pathways in order to reach a destination.

Unlike objects that we can touch, such as stationaries and toys, these pathways cannot be touched by human hands.

However, similar to objects that we can touch, these pathways each had their own unique information structure.

In the process of raising my hands upwards, I had used my 'sight' to read and analyse the information structures of the pathways that light travels through. Then, with my hand raised, I snapped my fingers as I used my natural decomposition magic to decompose the information structures of the specific pathways which light travels through.

With the elimination of most of these pathways, light could only travel through some of the specific pathways that I had left untouched on purpose. With the light and thus the light energy being concentrated in these specific pathways, this resulted in the formation of lasers powerful enough to cut through human flesh.

As the lasers pierced through the heads of the second-floor guards, the guards immediately stopped firing as their bodies collapsed to the ground.

'It looks like my new tactics are quite effective, huh? Well, this makes it the thirty-fifth major money laundering site in Tokyo that I have attacked. This way, the only place in Tokyo that the conspirators in the Kitayama family could go to for the purpose of 'cleaning' their money is gone.' I mused to myself silently.

Afterwards, I raised my left hand towards the corpses before proceeding to decompose all of the corpses and weapons.

As the bodies and weapons faded into nothingness, the blood stains that were on the floor had disappeared as well, as if they never existed in the first place.

I then quickly made my way to the computers as I took out my laptop and special thumbdrives.

It was time to do some 'reverse money-laundering.'

* * *

Year 2092, December 30, Tokyo International Airport, Japan, 11 a.m.

(Shizuku's POV)

"Damn it! Let me go! Do you know who I am?!" One of my male relative snarled.

He was not alone as my other relatives let out a string of insults and curses at the police officers who were taking them into custody.

As they struggled to free themselves, one of them, Takashi-san, looked at me with a pleading look in his eyes.

"H-Hey, Shizuku-chan! Look, can you tell these police officers that this is all just a misunderstanding? The allegations that we killed your father and mother are ridiculous. They're our family!" He said with a slightly desperate tone.

As I walked towards him, my fists clenched in anger.

This was the leader of the conspirators in my family!

This was the leader of my family members who wanted my parents dead!

Who wanted me dead!

With a cold expression on my face, I merely raised my hand before slapping him on the face.

Pah!

As the sound of the slap rung out in the airport, all of my other relatives immediately stopped struggling as they looked at me in shock.

Takashi-san, himself, was stunned as he immediately ceased all resistance.

"I already know all about your involvement in the murder of my parents. There is no need for you to make any more excuses." I said coldly before turning my back to him as I proceeded to leave the airport.

During this period, the police officers dragged the now compliant suspects away from the airport and into the police vans as they took the suspects to the police station for questioning.

At the entrance of the airport, a familiar person stood there, waiting for me.

He was tall, had black hair as well as a pair of beautiful silver eyes.

He also wore a long black jacket, a pair of black combat boots, a pair of long black pants and a black buttoned-up shirt.

"You know, I'm starting to think that this is your standard attire." I joked.

The boy merely smiled at me as he replied.

"I suppose that you are correct on that point." He conceded with a slight smile on his face.

"You were right. Seeing them get arrested did give me some closure…yet it did not ease my loneliness on bit." I admitted candidly.

He merely continued to smile at me sadly for a moment before he raised both his arms and extended them towards me.

"Then, Kitayama Shizuku, may I ease your loneliness?" He asked with a sincere tone.

Having lost all control of my emotions, I ran into his arms, my tears streaming down my face.

My arms wrapped around his back,

I clung onto him tightly,

as if my life depended on it.

My head then tilted upwards,

and my lips approached his own,

getting closer and closer,

till they finally

met his.

* * *

Year 2092, December 31, An unidentified ship in Tokyo Bay, Japan, 11:55 p.m.

(Tatsuya's POV)

"Come along, Ushiyama-san. Your friends are already all on board." I said.

"Yes, I got it. Wait up!" Ushiyama-san answered as he slowly climbed the stairs while carrying a heavy bag on his back and holding a heavy suitcase with his right hand.

Sighing slightly, I made my way down the stairs as I grabbed the handle of his suitcase.

"Come on, Ushiyama-san. You're finally here after all the troubles that you and your friends went through. Here, I will even hold your suitcase for you." I said as I held up his suitcase in front of him.

"Ah...thanks, Tatsuya-kun." He said gratefully as he climbed the stairs much more quickly now, having been relieved of one of his two heavy 'weights'.

"Think nothing of it. It's simply more efficient that way." I replied curtly as I made my way up the stairs as well.

When we finally reached the ship deck at the top end of the stairs, I looked down at my watch and smiled.

12 a.m. midnight.

"Hey, Ushiyama-san." I called out.

"Yes?" He asked.

I then turned towards him while giving him a slight smile.

"Happy new year."

* * *

Year 2093, January 1st, Tokyo Ship, North Pacific Ocean, 2 a.m.

(Shizuku's POV)

As I sat on my bed, reading through a book that Tatsuya-san gave me, I felt an extra weight being added onto my bed.

Turning around to face the other person who was currently on my bed, I came face to face with my brown-haired friend.

With her hands clasped together and her body slightly shaking, she had a nervous expression on her face.

"What's wrong, Honoka?" I asked with an emotionless tone, as usual.

"Hey, Shizuku-chan, you like Tatsuya-kun, right?" She asked hesitantly.

Sigh…

Well, it was inevitable for this topic to come up between us.

"What about you, Honoka? Do you like him as well? After all, you accepted his offer to go to the USNA with him and to become his companion." I asked back.

"…"

"Honoka, with the death of my parents, I know that you no longer had much strong links binding you to Japan. Please be honest with me." I implored.

"Yes. Yes, I do. I like Tatsuya-kun." She admitted as a blush covered her entire face.

"I see. So do I." I replied curtly.

We remained silent for a moment as both of us looked down, neither of us looking at each other.

"So what do we do now?" Honoka finally asked, breaking the silence that had enveloped the entire room.

I sighed.

"We'll work this out." I replied.

Yes.

We will work this out.

Both Honoka and I.

Together.

There were still 10 more days before we reached the USNA.

That was more than enough time for us to come up with a solution.

* * *

Well, then this is the last chapter of the New journey: Japan arc! The next arc will be the New journey: America arc! Please review!

To all those readers who think that Shizuku is a bit out of character in this chapter, please remember that she is currently emotionally distressed due to the fact that she was only just recently kidnapped, her friend was sold into prostitution, the activities of which Honoka luckily did not have to take part in (thank goodness), her parents were murdered and her own relatives conspired to kill her as well. That and she got herself a lover who could "wipe out over 30 people in the blink of an eye".

P.S. By the way, writers actually need reviews so that they can know what they did well, what they did wrong and to actually improve on their writing, or typing, in this case. So to all those passive readers out there, please review especially since I'm going to need a lot of them for the next arc!


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